Story highlights Senate budget resolution would pave way to end Obamacare

Process would allow Republicans to avoid a Democratic filibuster

Washington (CNN) The Senate voted mostly along party lines Wednesday to take the first official step toward repealing President Barack Obama's signature health care law.

The 51-48 vote was a procedural motion to start debate on a budget resolution that Republicans hope will result in overhauling the Affordable Care Act, and came after President Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence visited Capitol Hill to rally their respective parties.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only senator to break with his party; he joined Democrats in opposing the motion. A Paul spokesman said he did not support the bill because it doesn't balance the underlying budget.

The Senate will now begin 50 hours of debate on the budget measure, which sets up repeal of much of Obamacare through a separate budget reconciliation bill. Debate on this budget resolution is expected to carry into next week, after which there will be a "vote-a-rama," when an open-ended number of amendments to the budget resolution will gets votes, creating an opportunity for Democrats to further slow down the process.

The budget resolution is the first in a two-part process to repeal Obamacare. It instructs relevant congressional committees to craft a budget reconciliation bill, which will include language repealing major parts of the law.

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