Vue lecture

The Auctioneer and the Treasury Chief: Billy Long’s Quick Fall at the I.R.S.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought total control over the I.R.S., an agency where Mr. Long, the new commissioner, had started to put his own mark on the job.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Within days of being sworn in as the I.R.S. commissioner, Billy Long began to lose his grip on the role.
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