Republican Rep. Billy Long used his skills as a former auctioneer to mock the Democrats' $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill

• Rep. Billy Long mocked Democrats' reconciliation bill by pretending to be a federal spending auctioneer.
• Long, a former long-time auctioneer, was calling attention to the price tag of the bill.
• This isn't the first time the Republican congressman has put his auctioneering skills to use.

Republican Rep. Billy Long of Missouri, speaking on the House floor during a "one-minute speeches" session on Wednesday, used his skills as a former auctioneer to mock the Democrat's $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

Joining a growing GOP chorus, Long claimed that a markup of the bill had brought the overall price tag up to $4.3 trillion, greater than the $3.5 trillion price tag that has been widely reported.

The southwestern Missouri congressman is reportedly a longtime member of the National Auctioneers Association and the Missouri Professional Auctioneers' Association and was named the "Best Auctioneer in the Ozarks" for nine years straight, according to this campaign.

"I don't know exactly how that happened, but I might have a suggestion on how it could've possibly happened," Long said.

In auctioneer style, Long then listed off numbers that progressively approached $4.3 trillion. "Last call, 3 and a half - Oh! 4 trillion dollars," he said.

"And I have - sold it for $4.3 trillion," Long went on to say.

"You know, Madam Speaker, Missourian Harry Truman said when you get elected to Congress, you spend your first six months up here thinking wow, how did I ever get here? And then you spend the whole rest of your career thinking how did some of these other people get here? And if you've watched the boondoggle on the floor this week, you know exactly what I mean," he concluded.

This isn't the first time Long has put the tactic to use.

When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified before the House Energy and Commerce committee in 2018, far-right activist Lara Loomer stood up to protest the "censoring and shadow-banning of conservatives."

Long then began a mock auction and was met with a mixture of laughter and cheers, drowning out Loomer until she was removed by US Capitol Police.

"Somehow I think our auctioneer in residence is going to get tweeted about today," quipped Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, who chaired the committee at the time.