President Donald Trump’s pick for IRS commissioner, former Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), was voted out of committee on Tuesday and will head to a full floor vote.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 to advance Long’s nomination. The vote broke along party lines.

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Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) said on Tuesday that he looks forward to working with Long should he be confirmed by the full Senate.

“In sum, Congressman Long is uniquely suited to instill needed change at the IRS and I will vote in favor of his nomination,” Crapo said. “I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same.”

Long, an auctioneer by trade, served in the House from 2011 to 2023. During his confirmation hearing last month, Long faced questioning from Democrats about his post-congressional work related to the fraud-plagued Employee Retention Credit.

Long was asked about promoting the ERC and “tribal tax credits” during his hearing. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the ranking member of the committee, accused Long of “steering clients to firms that sold faked tax shelters and pushing small businesses to unknowingly commit tax fraud.”

Throughout the hearing, Long was also asked about the potential for Trump to use the IRS to punish his political enemies. For instance, the president has suggested revoking Harvard University’s tax-exempt status.

Long was questioned by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and avoided giving direct answers, but committed that he would follow the law when it comes to IRS policy and the tax code.

“[Y]ou’d have a lot more credibility if you would just say yes,” Warren told him. “It’s clear the statute makes it illegal for the president to direct the IRS vis-à-vis any particular taxpayer. And the fact that you want to sit there and dance around about this tells me that you shouldn’t be within 1,000 miles of the directorship of the IRS.”

The Internal Revenue Code says that it is not lawful for the president or any other executive officer to “request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.”

The nomination also comes against the backdrop of a years-long fight over IRS funding.

During the Biden administration, the Inflation Reduction Act allocated tens of billions of dollars in new IRS funding in order to step up enforcement and take in more uncollected revenue. The administration said at the time that the resources would be targeted on wealthy tax cheats. Since then, Republicans have been working to claw back that funding.

Long has been a major supporter of Trump. He was also one of the president’s earliest supporters during his first presidential campaign and was one of the lawmakers who supported a lawsuit contesting the results of the 2020 election.

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His auctioneering career spanned from 1979 until he first entered Congress in 2011. He is a member of the National Auction Association Hall of Fame.

In 2018, he used his auctioneering abilities to drown out hard-right political figure Laura Loomer, who interrupted a hearing, talking over her out while rattling off numbers quickly.