President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders to begin the implementation of various parts of his policy agenda, but he will eventually need legislative support from Congress to make those changes permanent and backed by the law.

Tuesday evening, the Republican-led House took a major first step in that process by just barely passing, with a 217-215 vote, a resolution containing the framework for a massive, multi-trillion-dollar budget reconciliation bill focused on Trump's agenda, Fox News reported.

The measure almost didn't pass as all House Democrats voted in lockstep against it and were joined in their opposition by one lone Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the principled libertarian-ish conservative who routinely votes against any bill that will add to the annual deficit and national debt.

A "Big First Step Win" for House GOP

After the close vote was concluded Tuesday evening, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released a joint statement with other House GOP leaders to celebrate the initial achievement in the legislative process of transforming President Trump's policy agenda into law.

"Today, House Republicans moved Congress closer to delivering on President Trump’s full America First agenda -- not just parts of it," the statement said. "This momentum will grow as we work with our committee chairs and Senate Republicans to determine the best policies within their respective jurisdictions to meet budgetary targets. We have full confidence in their ability to chart the best path forward."

"While there is still much more to do, we are determined to send a bill to President Trump’s desk that secures our border, keeps taxes low for families and job creators, restores American energy dominance, strengthens America’s standing on the world stage, and makes government work more effectively for all Americans," the House Republican leadership team added.

In a Wednesday morning Truth Social post, Trump wrote, "Big First Step Win for Speaker Mike Johnson, and AMERICA. Now let’s start to BALANCE THE BUDGET. IT CAN BE DONE!!! DJT"

A little more than an hour later, the president added in a separate post, "I hope the House and Senate are able to agree on making the Tax Cuts PERMANENT!"

That was the "easy" part of the process

NPR reported that the 217-215 passage of the House GOP's budget framework resolution was the "easy" part of the process and that legislators in the various committees will now face the "daunting challenge" of attempting to fill in all of the specific details in a way that can retain Republican unity when the budget package eventually comes up for a full vote.

That will undoubtedly prove tough and will be made even more difficult by the fact that Congress must soon shift its attention to the impending mid-March deadline of the short-term continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded and open that was hastily created and agreed upon at the last moment last year.

As for the supposedly "easy" passage of the budget framework, it almost didn't happen as Rep. Massie was initially not alone in objecting to the resolution, but following a lengthy delay in ending the vote, during which House GOP leadership and even President Trump worked to negotiate a "yes" vote from all but one of the holdouts, the measure finally reached the threshold needed to pass.

Still a lot of work left to do

Per NPR, the House-passed budget framework includes an extension of President Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which were set to expire this year, along with new tax cuts for tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits, as well as around $300 billion in increased funding for border security and the military and other Trump agenda items paired with a target of $2-$4 trillion in spending cuts over the next several years.

It will be up to the various committees to work out the details of exactly where those cuts will come from, and it is a certainty that Democrats -- and even some establishment GOPers -- will wail and moan and gnash their teeth over virtually any reduction in federal spending.

Once a final bill is worked out, and assuming it can pass the House again, it will then have to be reconciled with a Senate version that will undoubtedly be different and require intense negotiations to match them up before a finalized budget eventually reaches the Oval Office for a signature from the president.