Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries met over the weekend to start to mend a deep rift in the Democratic Party after the Senate leader allowed passage of a Republican stopgap spending bill.

Schumer said the spending bill was “terrible” but that a shutdown would have been far worse, and difficult to end, as President Donald Trump has already slashed jobs and funding for agencies across the government. A shutdown would have given Trump even more power to make cuts, Schumer said, “and so many programs would be lost.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed over the weekend that he’d yet to speak with his House counterpart, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), since splitting with most of his party to advance a GOP-crafted bill to avoid a government shutdown.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) has postponed his book tour scheduled this week in Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia amid an intense backlash from fellow Democrats over his controversial vote to advance a House Republican-drafted funding package that cuts deeply into nondefense programs.