Sen. Chuck Schumer’s spokesman Brian Fallon says his boss stands foursquare behind the opt out public option, and any suggestion that he’s been involved in negotiations regarding a triggered public option are false:
“Since Leader Reid announced the opt-out public option would be included in the Senate bill, Senator Schumer has not approached anyone about compromises,” Fallon said in a statement to TPMDC. “He is fully behind the level playing field opt-out, which he himself helped advance.”
That’s a direct contradiction to the assertion in this post, by a Democratic aide, that Schumer recently approached Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) about a public option compromise. But it doesn’t address Landrieu’s contention, that Schumer is a point man in behind the scenes negotiations regarding a potential trigger compromise.
We’ll try to get more clarification on that last point.