Ex-congressman Billy Long confirmed as commissioner of the IRS, an
agency he once sought to abolish
[June 13, 2025]
By FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri was confirmed
on Thursday to lead the Internal Revenue Service, giving the beleaguered
agency he once sought to abolish a permanent commissioner after months
of acting leaders and massive staffing cuts that have threatened to
derail next year’s tax filing season.
The Senate confirmed Long on a 53-44 vote despite Democrats’ concerns
about the Republican's past work for a firm that pitched a fraud-ridden
coronavirus pandemic-era tax break and about campaign contributions he
received after President Donald Trump nominated him to serve as IRS
commissioner.
While in Congress, where he served from 2011 to 2023, Long sponsored
legislation to get rid of the IRS, the agency he is now tasked with
leading. A former auctioneer, Long has no background in tax
administration.
Long will take over an IRS undergoing massive change, including layoffs
and voluntary retirements of tens of thousands of workers and
accusations that then-Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government
Efficiency mishandled sensitive taxpayer data. Unions and advocacy
organizations have sued to block DOGE’s access to the information.
The IRS was one of the highest-profile agencies still without a
Senate-confirmed leader. Before Long’s confirmation, the IRS shuffled
through four acting leaders, including one who resigned over a deal
between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to share
immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and
another whose appointment led to a fight between Musk and Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent.
After leaving Congress to mount an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate,
Long worked with a firm that distributed the pandemic-era employee
retention tax credit. That tax credit program was eventually shut down
after then-IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel determined that it was
fraudulent.
Democrats called for a criminal investigation into Long’s connections to
other alleged tax credit loopholes. The lawmakers allege that firms
connected to Long duped investors into spending millions of dollars to
purchase fake tax credits.
Long appeared before the Senate Finance Committee last month and denied
any wrongdoing related to his involvement in the tax credit scheme.
Treasury's Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender, who briefly served as
IRS' acting commissioner, sent an email to IRS employees after Long's
confirmation. He said Long's experience “will be critically important to
the IRS at this time of transformation, as we build a modern IRS that
will deliver on the Secretary’s priorities of service, collections and
privacy for generations to come,” according to the internal email
obtained by The Associated Press.
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Ahead of the confirmation vote, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon,
the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles blasting the requisite FBI
background check conducted on Long as a political appointee as
inadequate.
“These issues were not adequately investigated,” Wyden wrote. “In
fact, the FBI’s investigation, a process dictated by the White
House, seemed designed to avoid substantively addressing any of
these concerning public reports. It’s almost as if the FBI is unable
to read the newspaper.”
Democratic lawmakers have also written to Long and his associated
firms detailing concerns with what they call unusually timed
contributions made to Long’s defunct 2022 Senate campaign committee
shortly after Trump nominated him.
The IRS faces an uncertain future under Long. Tax experts have
voiced concerns that the 2026 filing season could be hampered by the
departure of so many tax collection workers. In April, The
Associated Press reported that the IRS planned to cut as many as
20,000 staffers — up to 25% of the workforce. An IRS representative
on Thursday confirmed the IRS had shed about that many workers but
said the cuts amounted to approximately the same number of IRS jobs
added under the Biden administration.
The fate of the Direct File program, the free electronic tax return
filing system developed during President Joe Biden's Democratic
administration, is also unclear. Republican lawmakers and commercial
tax preparation companies had complained it was a waste of taxpayer
money because free filing programs already exist, although they are
hard to use. Long said during his confirmation hearing that it would
be one of the first programs that come up for discussion if he were
confirmed.
Long is not the only Trump appointee to support dismantling an
agency he was assigned to manage.
Linda McMahon, the current education secretary, has repeatedly said
she is trying to put herself out of a job by closing the federal
department and transferring its work to the states. Rick Perry,
Trump's energy secretary during his first term, called for
abolishing the Energy Department during his bid for the 2012 GOP
presidential nomination.
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