Senate one step closer to approving tax cuts after vote to open budget debate

WASHINGTON - The Senate took an important step toward enacting Republican tax cuts Tuesday, voting to start debate on a budget resolution that would allow the chamber to approve a GOP tax proposal with a simple majority of votes.

The chamber voted 50 to 47 along party lines midday to proceed to debate on the budget resolution, a victory for Republican leaders who had faced the threat of several defections.

Two Republican senators - Thad Cochran, Miss., and Richard Shelby, Ala. - were absent, which narrowed the GOP's margin for victory. Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, N.J., currently on trial for federal corruption charges, was also absent.

The successful vote does not mean Republicans are in the clear, however.

The GOP controls 52 of the 100 Senate seats, but with health problems keeping Cochran in Mississippi, they can only afford to lose support from one other Republican senator if they want to pass the budget resolution.

One must-watch vote, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., supported Tuesday's procedural motion, but indicated on Twitter that he does not yet support the actual budget because he wants it to include further spending cuts.

'I have told the White House and GOP leaders that if they simply stick to their own caps, the rest of the Budget is fine and I'll vote yes,” Paul tweeted shortly before the vote.

'It is a simple, but important, change they could easily make. The ball is in their court,” he wrote.

Cochran is in Mississippi suffering from a urinary tract infection, his office said Monday. Shelby is in Alabama for his brother-in-law's funeral and will return Tuesday night, his office said.