House passes budget, clears path for tax reform

WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives passed its budget resolution for the next fiscal year on Thursday, setting the roadmap for GOP tax reform. “Today, the House took a crucial step towards pro-growth tax reform by passing our conservative, fiscally responsible budget,” House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a statement. The budget resolution passed along party lines in a 219-206 vote. It would increase defense spending by about $72 billion and includes plans for deep cuts to entitlement programs to end the federal deficit in 10 years. Those numbers aren’t set in stone, however, because lawmakers will need to reconcile differences with their Senate colleagues. Most importantly, the budget resolution begins the reconciliation process, which would allow Republicans to approve tax reform legislation with only 50 votes in the Senate. Republicans are aiming to pass tax reform before the end of the year but have yet to publish text of the legislation. A framework for the bill, released earlier this month, outlined a plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and decrease the number of individual tax brackets from seven to three. Congress has not updated the U.S. tax code since 1986.