joining us from washington, new york congressman anthony weiner. so you read my talking points, congressman. where am i going wrong? >> well, you have a couple of factual things wrong. first, there was nothing in the bill that has any health records being revealed to the federal government. there is nothing that has the irs finding out your health insurance status except whether you have insurance or not. and that is weather you are going to claim it in order to be able to get your deduction. but you also set up. >> bill: all right. let me challenge. number one, on the health records, if you read the "wall street journal" today, there is a big article that in order for the federal government to make decisions on who gets what, you are going to have to have a review panel of some kind to look at people's status. so, i'm not sure you're correct about that. you have to -- >> here is where you are mistaken. they are going to aggregate like they do now things that are going on in the health care economy. but they won't know a single thing about bill o'r

i want to tell you that we were scheduled to have both congressman anthony weiner two top democrats with us. we have had trouble getting them. they are on the house floor and involved in the rules vote. if we get one or both we'll put them on. we are subject to busy schedules today. on the day that the house votes to overhaul the nation's health care system. we are looking at emergency room care in this country. with so many americans losing jobs and health insurance emergency rooms are packed. one problem, frequent fliers and go to the er instead of their own doctor. costing taxpayers and hospitals millions of dollars. a sacramento hospital is using a new program to help break that cycle. already the hospital is saving millions. how is it doing it? casey segal joins me live. how does the program work? >> megan, good to see you. partnership between suter medical and a nonprofit community clinic called the effort. it identifies what are frequent flier patients. they are people who show up to an emergency room several times a month or several times in the same week. doctors at this er tell

passed -- [ bleep ] >> reporter: a threatening letter containing white powder arrived at democrat anthony weiner and somee shot at the office of congressman eric cantor. >> i have deep concerns that some, chairman chris van hollen and dnc chairman tim kaine in particular, are dangerously fanning the flames. >> reporter: van hollen responded by saying cantor chose to use his press conference to level false accusatns and said it was straight out of republican's political playbook of distracting attention away from a serious issue. >> i'm not sure other than perhaps the vietnam era protest that there's ever been athing like this. >> reporter: george mason university professor michael fontroy says these may be unprecedented times. members of congress threatened, called racial or homo phobic slurs. >> they have to continue to shout down this kind of stuff. i do not think people who engage in this activity should be able to do so in comft. >> reporter: he says political parties shouldn't take comfort. it could alienate those all important independent voters. that's important as the parties head into t

. >> after numerous complaints about several companies, new york democrat anthony weiner introduced theold act, pushing for more stringent regulation of the industry on a national scale. >> basically when you put that gold in that envelope, you're sending it off to the wild west. >> now, if that gold act becomes law, it would require consumers accept the offer before their gold is melted down and if they don't do that, then companies would get fined. it would also mandate that companies ensuinsure any jewelr they return to customers for the same value the customer insured it when they mailed it in. right now in florida where we were there are stricter regulations as part of a new law that took effect in october. it requires that all mail-in gold companies photograph every item they receive and log it into a national law enforcement data base. cash for gold i should say says it worked with florida to create that legislation. as for you and how you can make sure you get the most for your gold, take a look at these tips. first of all, shop around. take your gold to more than one place to b

democratic lawmakers, most notably in new york, where fbi hazmat crews responded to a call from anthony weiner's office after the congressman received a letter containing a suspicious white powder. and one received death threats and angry phone calls over his health care vote, like this one. >> hi, mr. mitchell. for the rest of your life, with the vote that you cast, you are going to have to look over your shoulder for as long as you live in this district. you are always going to have to look over your [ bleep ] shoulder, because people in your district hate your [ bleep ] face. and don't you forget it. you have just riled up people's rage. we are filled with rage and hate today towards you. hate like we have never, ever felt. i love my insurance company, and to have you come in between me and my [ bleep ] doctor, i cannot tell you how much i wish a panty bomber would come in and just blow your [ bleep ] place up. >> republicans say they've been targeted with threatening phone calls, too, like this one received by ohio congresswoman jean schmidt. >> you and boehner and [ bleep ] mitch mcconnell,

meanwhile the new york district office of congressman anthony weiner remains closed today this afteris office in queens new york received an envelope with white powder and threatening vote complaining about his yes vote. the powder turned out to be harmless. nine staffers were isolated and decontaminated. jean schmidt from ohio released a threatening e-mail she released. listen to is. >> you and boehner [ bleep ], mitch mcconnell, all you racist republicans, why don't you change your name to racist. >>> nbc white house correspondent, that's an awful call, pete. the law enforcement have to separate ugly, mean calls to something that could be a more serious threat of violence. >> reporter: precisely, what the fbi says is the actual number of serious death threats here is quite small. the view on the hill among law enforcement that this is probably going to dissipate as members of congress go back to their districts for two weeks. there have been a few more incidents, republicans in a county republican office near the charlottesville, virginia, area say bricks were thrown through their

and in queens, new york, congressman anthony weiner says someone sent a threatening letter and an envelope containing white powder to his community office. hazmat responded and teams determined the powder was not dangerous. all together, more than 10 lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have reported receiving some sort of harassment, including voice mails so obscene we won't play them on tv. democrats have blamed republicans of being slow to condemn the threats. but republicans say accusations like that just fans the flames of violence. >> by ratcheting up the rhetoric, some will only inflame these situations to dangerous levels. enough is enough. it has to stop. >> trace: both sides agree about that threats have no place in a public debate. it is also worth noting threatening a member of congress for performing their duties is a crime punishable by up to one year in prison. steve centanni with the news. he is live for us tonight in washington. steve, congressman cantor had already been receiving extra security though, right? >> right, trace. as a member of the house leadership, u.s. capi

anthony weiner's office in new york received a letter containing white powder. at least 10 democratic house members have been offered stepped up security. >> congressman stupak, you baby killing mother ( no audio ). i hope you die. >> reporter: democratic congressman bart stupak was one of the targets. he and six others provided the votes to pass healthcare reform. and even on sarah palin's facebook page-- rifle cross hairs mark the districts of 17 democratic members of congress she wants to see defeated. >> those expressions, those acts of vandalism and those threats of more have no place in place in this civil debate our country. >> reporter: tim kaine, the democratic national committee chair and former governor of virginia, asked supporters in an email today for $25 or more to help defend lawmakers from the threats. republican eric cantor surprised people when he said today that last week, he said shots were fired into the unmarked offices of two of his longtime strategists. >> let me be clear. i do not condone violence, there are no leaders in this building,

. >> let's discuss this and more with democratic congressman anthony weiner.uch for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> you've gotten some angry hate mail, some vice mail. you also had some mysterious white powder sent to your office in new york. have the local authorities discovered what that powder was? >> well, they responded very well. and they decontaminated the office. it turns out it was nothing biologic. it was cause for alarm because it was attached to a letter that was hateful and threatening. but you know, what sarah palin doesn't seem to understand that while it's pretty clear to most people that the language about targeting someone and being in the cross hairs was a metaphor to her, to a twisted mind it really might be the sign that they should go ahead and do something violent. i'm not quite sure she understands that the debate is whether or not the lines have been crossed. because when you have people shouting anti-semitic and racist and homophobic things on the steps of the capitol, when you have threats going to members of congress, that someone has