The good news: this paves the way for tax reform. The bad news: the tax reform, and this budget, are highly irresponsible, as they do nothing to control spending in an era of a $20 trillion deficit:

Senate Republicans on Thursday passed a budget measure that will unlock the route to a sweeping tax overhaul, giving the GOP a sorely needed victory after other pieces of their legislative agenda collapsed earlier this year.

After a significantly shortened vote-a-rama, the Senate passed the fiscal 2018 budget on a 51-49 vote. All Democrats opposed the measure, as did Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who had telegraphed his position for days.

The budget resolution does include a decade of proposed spending cuts and entitlement overhauls. But it’s largely seen as a shortcut to reforming the tax code, which Republicans have deemed a must-do after falling short on their attempts to repeal Obamacare.

Ah, the old “spending cuts and entitlement reform in the out years” scam. Well, this will be an unpopular opinion, but good for Rand Paul for opposing it. The bill provides for “higher defense spending without offsets.” Hooray for the spenders! Also, “lawmakers rejected amendments from Paul and Mike Lee (R-Utah) that aimed to repeal Obamacare” and an amendment from Paul to slash discretionary spending (which went down 5-95). Double hooray for the spenders!

So if you like your deficits and you like them big, rejoice!

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