The Senate on Thursday confirmed former Representative Billy Long of Missouri as the next commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, as Republicans looked past concerns about his brief career promoting fraud-riddled and nonexistent tax credits to unanimously support President Trump’s nominee.
The vote was 53-44 along party lines, with all present Democrats opposed.
The former Republican congressman will take the helm of the tax collector during a period of deep instability. Much of the agency’s work force has been laid off, fired or quit since Mr. Trump took office, and the administration is targeting it for further cuts. Mr. Long became the sixth person to lead the agency this year, after a series of acting commissioners quit or were removed.
Mr. Long was an unusual pick to lead the revenue service. An early supporter of Mr. Trump, Mr. Long did not serve on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee during his time in the House, and he repeatedly sponsored legislation that called for the abolition of the I.R.S.
After he left Congress in 2023, Mr. Long, an auctioneer who is not a tax accountant or lawyer, aggressively marketed a pandemic-era tax credit, promising small businesses that the I.R.S. would give them much larger refunds than their certified accountants believed was possible. He also encouraged friends to claim a tribal tax credit that the I.R.S. has since said did not exist.
Democrats assailed Mr. Long’s tax work, for which he was paid roughly $250,000 over the course of last year and the first few months of this year, according to his financial disclosure. After Mr. Trump picked Mr. Long, donors with ties to tax consulting companies also gave roughly $135,000 to Mr. Long’s failed 2022 Senate campaign, money that Mr. Long used to pay himself back for a loan he had made to the campaign.
“We all know that Donald Trump prioritizes loyalty over experience in his administration. But even by the president’s standards, Mr. Long is a shockingly bad nominee,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said on Wednesday.
Republicans, long hostile to the I.R.S., shrugged off Democrats’ criticism and said they hoped Mr. Long, who has no experience leading a large organization, would make the agency, which had roughly 100,000 employees before Mr. Trump took office, more efficient.
“I look forward to working with him to ensure the I.R.S. focuses on helping American taxpayers to better understand and meet their tax responsibilities, and that it enforces the law with integrity and fairness to all,” Senator Michael Crapo, a Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Finance Committee, said.
Mr. Long’s term will last until Nov. 12, 2027, when the last confirmed I.R.S. commissioner, Daniel Werfel, was supposed to step down. But Mr. Werfel, nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., resigned after Mr. Trump picked Mr. Long, a move that ended the norm that I.R.S. leaders remain largely apolitical and serve under presidents of different parties.
Mr. Trump’s pick of Mr. Long last year was an early sign that he intended to turn the technocratic I.R.S. into a more political agency, and the president has since pushed for the I.R.S. to help deport immigrants and called for the tax agency to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status.
Andrew Duehren covers tax policy for The Times from Washington.
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