Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor Friday morning to defend his decision to support a Republican short-term funding bill that will effectively help avoid a government shutdown at the end of the day.

A generational divide, seen in newer lawmakers’ impatience with bipartisanship and for colleagues who don’t understand new media, has emerged as one of the deepest rifts within the party.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer had two choices as the clock ticked down to the government funding deadline: drop his threat to block the Republican bill or force a disruptive March 15 shutdown.