GOP senator tells Democrat to ‘take a Valium’ during testy Treasury confirmation hearing

The confirmation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary nominee turned nasty on Thursday when a Republican senator said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden should take "a Valium pill" and calm down.

According to TheHill.com, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) made the condescending remark after Wyden offered a lengthy critique of nominee Steven Mnuchin, whose record as CEO of OneWestBank includes thousands of foreclosures, including a 90-year-old woman who owed the bank 27 cents.

At the conclusion of Wyden's remarks, Roberts said, "Sen. Wyden, I’ve got a Valium pill here that you might want to take before the second round."

Democrats responded angrily to the quip as the chamber erupted in protests.

“I just can’t quite believe that the senator would say that,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “I hope that comment about Valium doesn’t set the tone for this committee in 2017.”

Session leader Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) tried to gavel the session back to order and Roberts offered a tepid apology for his “little pinprick of humor.”

"I'm sorry if I have incurred your wrath," he said.

Wyden said Roberts was wasting valuable procedural time with these diversions.

"We have many colleagues waiting," Wyden said.

“Fine, Ron!" Roberts snapped. "I’m done!”

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