Under the deal, all of the state employees whom the administration classified as "noncritical" will return to work Tuesday, and Rendell indicated that they would likely be paid for their one-day furlough.
"If there is a way they can be made whole, they will be made whole," Rendell said.
Nine days past the June 30 deadline for a new budget, Rendell and legislators agreed on the framework of a $27.3 billion spending plan that holds the line on taxes but increases costs over the previous year by more than 4 percent.
Senate and House GOP leaders said they were pleased that the deal maintains their core principle of keeping the rate of spending down.
"We're on our way. The people of Pennsylvania won with this budget. There are no new taxes and spending limits," said Rep. Mario Civera (R., Delaware), the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.
Sen. Gib Armstrong (R., Lancaster), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said: "Republicans stood fast. We achieved something that in February I didn't think was possible."
Although the budget is not officially in place, Rendell said he was satisfied that enough progress was made to call off the furloughs and reopen government. Lawmakers could send the fiscal blueprint to Rendell by the end of the week.
House and Senate leaders also reached an accord on another Rendell priority: a transportation plan that over the next decade would provide $900 million annually in new funding for highways and mass-transit agencies through bonds and tolls on Interstate 80.
Rendell called it a "historic transportation agreement" that devotes more money than ever before for road and bridge projects and for struggling mass-transit agencies, including SEPTA, that are facing fare hikes and service cuts.
