Democrats in the South Carolina House declared a major victory Wednesday as they upheld a Senate plan to increase the state's cigarette tax by 50 cents and use most of the money to provide health care for low-income residents.

The Senate approved the 50-cent per-pack increase earlier this month, estimated to bring in $159 million in additional taxes. The only change made in the House was setting aside $1 million to promote food grown in South Carolina.

"It's a great day!" House Minority Leader Harry Ott exclaimed after the House returned the bill to the Senate nearly intact. "We are very happy!"

Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman said the Senate would agree to the House change, which sets it up to go to the governor.

But the measure still faces a steep hurdle. Gov. Mark Sanford has pledged to veto any tax increase that doesn't cut taxes equally elsewhere. Overriding the veto would take a two-thirds majority.

"We also think it's poor policy to use the money to expand Medicaid, because the cigarette tax money will at best remain steady, and will likely decrease - while Medicaid expenditures can be expected to increase by 8 percent a year. That's in effect a guaranteed future tax increase," said Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer.

The state's per-pack tax was last increased 31 years ago. It is now the nation's lowest at 7 cents a pack. New Jersey's is the highest at $2.58 per pack.

The measure would provide health care to an estimated 80,000 parents of children already covered by Medicaid, and help at least 30,000 more workers afford insurance through three years of premium assistance, said Ott, a St. Matthews farmer.

Democrats and some Republicans worked together in opposition of House GOP leadership. Republicans hold about 60 percent of the House seats.

"I was reminded today what it's like to be in the minority party," said House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Cooper.

He and House Majority Leader Jim Merrill had argued it made no sense to expand Medicaid while relying on a shrinking pool of money. If the reason for raising the tax is to keep kids from smoking and persuade adults to stop, then the state is going to run into funding problems, they said.

GOP leaders tried unsuccessfully to instead dedicate the money to helping small businesses afford to provide their employees health care, through a 30-cent increase and a 50-cent increase. Another failed plan would have used the money to cut state income taxes, as Sanford has advocated.

"We got our behinds kicked," Merrill said. "I'm disgusted we chose as a Republican-led body to increase taxes" and "programs that don't work."

Last year, the House approved a 30-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase in exchange for eliminating the sales tax on groceries. But legislators passed a budget that cut the grocery tax without raising the cigarette tax.