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Bipartisan congressional negotiators unveiled a long-awaited budget framework to fund the government past mid-January and stabilize the government's finances into the near future. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top lawmakers on budgetary issues in their respective chambers announced a fiscal framework that would help eliminate the constant threat of a government shutdown under which lawmakers have worked for the better part of the last three years. "I think this agreement is a clear improvement on the status quo," Ryan said. (Read more: No 'extremists in my party,' says Dem Whip Hoyer) "We have broken through the partisanship and gridlock and reached a bipartisan compromise that will prevent a government shutdown in January," Murray said at a joint press conference to announce the agreement. The announcement follows a day full of fine-tuning the details of the agreement, which covers the next two fiscal years and set a top-line budget number for each year. The House, where conservatives could upend the agreement if they refuse to vote for it, was slated to act first this week on the legislation.

While both Ryan and Murray were optimistic the framework would have enough support to pass the House and Senate, Washington budget fights have rarely been simple or easy in recent years.

The did win quick praise from House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio, the Republican leader whose dogged budget negotiation strategies had contributed to a government shutdown in October. "While modest in scale, this agreement represents a positive step forward by replacing one-time spending cuts with permanent reforms to mandatory spending programs that will produce real, lasting savings," Boehner said in a statement. And President Barack Obama called it "a good first step." (Read more: Guess what? DC could deliver a merry Christmas) "The agreement doesn't include everything I'd like -- and I know many Republicans feel the same way," the president said. "That's the nature of compromise. But it's a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come together and break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making to get this done." The framework would set spending levels above the $967 billion cap established by the sequester; the budget for 2014 would be set at $1.012 trillion, and the budget for 2015 would be $1.014 trillion. Appropriators will be charged with detailing the particular spending within those limits. The top Republican and Democrat in charge of the budget committees have agreed to roll back billions of the harshest automatic spending cuts for the Pentagon and domestic programs. Congress will vote on the agreement before heading home for the holidays. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.