BRASILIA, April 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's lower house of Congress voted on Sunday to back the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff for breaking budget laws.

Rousseff's opponents reached the 342-vote mark needed to send her impeachment to the Senate for trial, a major step towards potentially ending 13 years of leftist Workers Party rule in the divided nation.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Daniel Flynn)