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Top US lawmakers have reached a tentative deal to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of a Friday deadline to approve funding, BBC News reports.

Four funding bills will now be extended to 8 March while the rest of the budget will be extended to March 22.

"We are in agreement that Congress must work in a bipartisan manner to fund our government," top US lawmakers said in a joint statement.

The House is expected to vote on the stopgap measure as early as Thursday.

Democrats and Republicans have been far apart in the budget negotiations on border security and aid to Ukraine.

Republicans control the House by a slim majority, while Democrats hold the Senate by a single seat. Spending bills to keep the US government open require buy-in from both parties in order to advance through both chambers to the president's desk for signature.

There have been 10 US government shutdowns or partial shutdowns over the past four decades.

The bipartisan deal was struck by House and Senate negotiators on Wednesday, one day after congressional lawmakers travelled to the White House to meet President Joe Biden.

It will be "voted on by the House and Senate this week," according to a statement released by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The congressional leaders now face the difficult task of convincing rank and file lawmakers to support the deal.