WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will have a hearing before a Senate panel Tuesday, five months after he was nominated. But the confirmation of B. Todd Jones looks to be a long shot.

Jones is the U.S. attorney for Minnesota and the acting ATF director. He will be only the second nominee to get a hearing before the Judiciary Committee since the Senate was given authority to approve the agency's chief in 2006. He is expected to face aggressive questioning by Republican lawmakers.

The bureau has operated without a confirmed director for six years. Since 2006, four people have held the job temporarily. Two men before Jones were nominated, but neither had enough Senate support to win the job permanently.

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(Photo: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)