Former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Lawrence Gibbs and with other former IRS Commissioners are urging President Biden to nominate a replacement to lead the agency before the term of current chief Charles Rettig expires next month, warning that a void at the top risks harming the agency's performance at a sensitive time. "The organization, the IRS itself, responds to the guidance, the direction, the leadership of both the Commissioner and the IRS Chief  Counsel," Gibbs said. "It takes a Commissioner and Chief Counsel that are appointed and confirmed to deal with the Congress, the rest of the administration, taxpayer organizations, media, all of the things that mold how the Internal Revenue Service is viewed, and that's important in terms of people's willingness to comply, and the ability of the organization to perform," Gibbs noted. This performance is crucial to the agency's ability to help fund the government. "When we have a national debt that is in excess of our gross domestic product, ensuring that the revenue system works and works well, that's got to be one of the priorities." Referring to the mid-term elections, Gibbs said, "we are less than a month away. And we've heard nothing from the administration. No names are being rumored at the present time. There's silence."