The Latest: Senate GOP backs budget

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Congress and a budget resolution (all times local):

4:10 a.m.

President Donald Trump hailed the vote as "Great news" in a post-midnight tweet, calling it a "first step toward delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for the American people."

The White House said in a statement that Trump "applauds the Senate for passing its FY 2018 Budget Resolution today and taking an important step in advancing the Administration's pro-growth and pro-jobs legislative agenda."

The statement went on to say the resolution "creates a pathway to unleash the potential of the American economy through tax reform and tax cuts" and simplifying the tax code.

3:25 a.m.

Republicans must now shift their focus to enacting President Donald Trump's sweeping tax plan, a far heavier lift than the $4 trillion budget plan they've muscled through the Senate to lay the groundwork for the first tax overhaul in three decades.

The GOP on Thursday narrowly backed the budget plan, a prerequisite to major tax legislation. The Senate methodically worked through a pack of amendments, with Republicans rebuffing Democrats' successive attempts to reshape the blueprint and derail the tax cuts in the Senate. The final vote was 51-49 with deficit hawk Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky the lone opposing GOP vote.

Republicans will have a far harder time approving a complex plan to bring steep tax cuts, especially for corporations, and overhaul the nation's tax system, which has sharply divided House Republicans on regional fault lines.