Thursday’s confirmation hearing for Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin quickly turned testy after Republican Pat Roberts of Kansas offered Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon a Valium pill, after Wyden’s tough opening criticisms of Mnuchin.
“Sen. Wyden, I’ve got a Valium pill here you might want to take … just a suggestion, sir,” Roberts said to his counterpart after Wyden issued a scathing opening monologue on Mnuchin’s track record.
“Just another suggestion, we’ve got a number of colleagues waiting. If you could be brief, it would be helpful,” Wyden shot back.
At that point, another Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, jumped in.
“I just can’t quite believe he would say that to a distinguished senator from Oregon,” he said. Brown later called Roberts’ comment “outrageous” as a number of senators began talking over each other.
Roberts was initially unrepentant. “I said that to the president of the United States at one point,” he shot back. In 2011, he suggested that President Obama take a Valium.
Seconds later, though, he did apologize to Wyden, explaining that he was trying to give the hearing “a little pinprick of humor.”
