Billy Long Uses Auctioneering Skills To Silence Protester At Twitter Hearing
It’s rare that comedy comes to the floor of the United States Congress much less a staged auction, but that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday thanks to Missouri Republican lawmaker Billy Long, reports Fox News.
With Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey speaking before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the far-right protester Laura Loomer jumped up with a selfie stick and phone in hand and yelled out to President Donald Trump, who was not present at the hearing.
“Jack Dorsey is trying to influence the election, to sway the election, [inaudible] Democrats steal the election. That is why he is censoring and shadow banning conservatives,” said Loomer.
As the Inquisitr reported leading into the hearings, Dorsey seems to have actually personally helped conservative voices remain on the platform, contrary to Loomer’s allegation.
The initial response to Loomer on the floor fell to Committee Chairman Greg Walden, a Republican from Oregon, who told Loomer to stand down with the threat of being removed from the committee room, which she didn’t, forcing Long and the Capitol police into action.
Long owns his own auction house, Billy Long Auctions, LLC, and worked as an auctioneer for over 30 years in the state he now represents, having won awards for his skills, so to Long the response seemed natural.
As a protester interrupts hearing with @Twitter CEO @Jack Dorsey, Rep. Billy Long (@USRepLong @auctnr1), a former auctioneer, takes action.
Watch full hearing with here: https://t.co/Gh099bDc9w pic.twitter.com/e4bRzvtBe1
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 5, 2018
Long broke into his auctioneer routine, staging a fake auction with such volume that it drowned out Loomer, and despite Loomer’s best efforts, Long’s skills were too good continuing for several minutes and drowning out the rest of Loomer’s shouting.
The item that Long was auctioning? Loomer’s cell phone and the fake bidders certainly got a steal on the item, according to NPR, which stated that the bidding only got as high as $17 before the “auction” concluded.
Ostensibly Long was doing his “auction” routine to buy some time for the police to deal with Loomer, who was removed while Long was speaking, which then allowed the committee to get back to the business with Dorsey.
“I yield back,” said Long after he finished his routine following Loomer’s removal, prompting laughter throughout the room as he handed control back to Walden and the hearing continued.
NPR reports that Long has whipped out his auctioneer routine as a congressman having done so on the floor of Congress in 2011, reading the national debt in his auctioneer style to take advantage of the data being numerical, promising to come back and do the routine backward if the debt decreases.
