Trump scores major win as Senate installs IRS critic to lead the agency

Senate Republicans rammed through another of President Donald Trump’s nominees on Thursday, this time giving a green-light to the president’s pick to lead the IRS.

The GOP-controlled Senate approved former House Rep. Billy Long to be the next IRS commissioner in 53 to 44 vote along party lines. Long’s ascension to the role marks him as the fifth commissioner atop the tax agency since the beginning of this year.

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He will replace Michael Faulkender, who is serving as acting commissioner alongside his duty as deputy Treasury Secretary. Long will also be taking over an agency that, like many others, saw drastic cuts to its workforce under the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. 

The former lawmaker and auctioneer will now lead an agency he once sought to dismantle.

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Long, who served in the House from 2011 to 2013 representing Missouri’s 7th district, was grilled by Senate Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing last month.

Lawmakers questioned his backing of legislation that would have abolished the IRS and replaced income taxes with a national sales tax, and his promotion of a pair of tax credits — the Employee Retention Tax Credit and “tribal tax credits” — that raised questions of a possible conflict of interest with his new position.

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During the hearing, Long argued that as commissioner, he would have a chance to “make real, transformational change to an agency that needs it more than any other.”

But Trump has similarly sought to abolish the IRS and replace income taxes with tariffs, among other proposals. That means Long’s elevation to IRS commissioner likely gives the president a key ally in moving forward with his vision of seeing the tax agency scrapped.