By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top U.S. Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer on Thursday said he would vote to advance a Republican stopgap funding bill, signaling that his party would provide the votes to avert a government shutdown.

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said he would vote to end the filibuster, indicating sufficient support among other party members to allow vote on Republican bill.

Schumer’s comments are a change in tune from Wednesday when he said that Democrats would not provide the votes needed to approve the House-passed stopgap funding measure. He argued that the Senate should instead vote on a “clean” bill that would maintain spending levels for 30 days to enable bipartisan negotiations.