Republican tax writers boosted pressure on the rest of their party on Tuesday to pass tax cuts as their top legislative priority.

“We must make the Trump tax cuts permanent as soon as possible,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said during the committee’s first hearing of the new congress.

Republicans have been split about whether they want to move on one bill to pass their agenda, which includes tax cuts along with new border security and energy production laws, or to spin the tax cuts off into a separate bill later in the year.

Increasingly, it looks like Republicans are going to opt for one larger bill instead of breaking it up into the two bills preferred by Senate leadership, but the matter isn’t settled.

President-elect Trump has said he would like a single bill, but is open to doing two.

House tax writers drove the point home on Tuesday, saying that extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, often referred to as the Trump tax cuts, needs to be a top priority.

“If Congress doesn’t act soon, family owned farms and main street businesses will have to start calling estate planners and accountants to figure out how they navigate the potential increase in taxes,” Smith said.

Passing any part of their agenda without Democratic buy-in will........

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