By: Ashley Murray
WASHINGTON — Former Missouri U.S. Rep. Billy Long is now the head of the Internal Revenue Service, after the U.S. Senate approved his nomination Thursday.
Senators split along party lines, 53-44, to confirm the Republican, who served in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023, and previously spent multiple years as a talk radio host.
Long heads to the IRS after the agency has lost more than 11,000 employees, or 11% of its workforce, either through deferred resignations or mass firing of probationary workers since President Donald Trump began his second term, according to a May 2 report from the agency’s inspector general.
In a social media post after Long’s confirmation, Republican Sen. Mike Crapo, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, congratulated the new IRS commissioner.
“I look forward to partnering with him in his efforts to modernize the IRS and improve customer service for taxpayers,” wrote Crapo, of Idaho.
Long’s nomination process was overshadowed by a Democrat-led investigation into the former lawmaker’s involvement in a fake tribal tax credit scheme.
Long denied any wrongdoing during his May 20 confirmation hearing.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said on the floor ahead of Thursday’s vote that a decision on Long “ought to be an easy no.”
“It’s one corruption bombshell after another with former Congressman Billy Long. Fake tax credits. Scam tax advice. Shadowy political donations that went straight in his pocket. Promises of personal favors. No-show jobs with high-paying federal salaries. That’s quite a rap-sheet,” said Wyden, of Oregon.
The IRS is tasked with collecting tax revenue and enforcing the tax code.