The Senate confirmed former Missouri Congressman Billy Long as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner by a vote of 53-44. As a Congressman, Long cosponsored legislation to abolish the embattled agency he will now run.

Long was confirmed by the Senate on June 12 and sworn in as the 51st Commissioner of the IRS on June 16. He Long served as a U.S. Representative for Missouri’s 7th district from 2011 to 2023. He worked as a real estate broker for 32 years prior to this service. He also worked as a radio host and an auctioneer, with the distinction of being inducted into the National Auctioneers’ Association Hall of Fame. He notably went viral demonstrating his auctioneer skills at an Energy & Commerce Committee hearing to quiet a protester who was causing a disturbance.

Long expressed plans to make the IRS a “more taxpayer-friendly agency” in a message to all employees. “In my first 90 days I plan to ask you, my employee partners, to help me develop a new culture here,” Long wrote to all IRS employees. “I’m big on culture, and I’m anxious to develop one that makes your lives and the taxpayers’ lives better.”

His term is scheduled to run through Nov. 12, 2027.