Democratic Senator Heitkamp says she will vote for funding bill

Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp said on Friday she would vote for a stopgap government funding bill, joining two other senators who have bucked their party and said they would support a Republican-backed bill to keep the government open.

"My vote to keep the government open is not an endorsement for a bill that just kicks the can down the road another few weeks," said Heitkamp, a senator from North Dakota, in a statement. "I want to find a long term solution to keep the government operating."

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Eric Beech)