Thursday during the Senate Finance Committee’s conformation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasure Secretary Steve Mnuchin, a heated exchange erupted after Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) joked that he could give Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) “a Valium pill.”
Roberts said, “Senator Wyden, I’ve got a Valium pill here that you might want to take before the second round. Just a suggestion, sir.”
Wyden replied, “Just another suggestion we’ve got a lot of colleagues waiting, if you could be brief it would be helpful.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) jumped in saying, “Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, I hope that that comment about Valium doesn’t set the tone for 2017 in this committee. I like Senator Roberts but I can’t quite believe that he would say that to a distinguished Senator from Oregon.”
Roberts and Brown shouting at each other until Brown concluded, “This is just outrageous.”
Roberts said, “I don’t’ know about outrageous but I think just a little pinprick of humor might help this committee from time to time.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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