Perhaps there's a good reason why Pennsylvania needed an extra three months to pass its budget.

That's three months beyond the deadline. And the deadline (July 1) is written in the state lawbooks, so any living and sentient legislator (which description certainly covers more than half of them) knew it was coming.

That's two months longer than the U.S. Congress needed to pass the monumental Patriot Act in 2001.

Indeed, the Pennsylvania Assembly needed less than three weeks to agree to adopt the whole United States Constitution in 1787. It needed a whole three months to hash out the line items of the 2009 budget.

For that matter, the good Lord needed only 40 days to wipe out the world (except Noah and friends). The Pennsylvania legislature took twice that long to pass a budget, and it's not done yet.

Perhaps there was a good reason Pennsylvania was the last state in the union this year to get a budget together.

Perhaps such bedrock principles were at risk that nothing but the most unflinching brinkmanship would answer to history's judgment.

Most residents of the state, we're willing to bet, think the impasse in Harrisburg has more to do with maneuvering the guys from the other party into looking bad.

At any rate, when a deal was announced Sept. 18 between Gov. Ed Rendell and top Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the people of the state breathed a collective sigh of relief.

While negotiators were holding their high ground on principle (or political calculation), hundreds of private organizations and businesses that form Pennsylvania's social safety net saw their checks dry up.

They had to take out loans, lay off workers and shut down some services to save others.

They, and their clients, were hostages of politics.

The YWCA of Lancaster, for example, provides child care for 300 children daily, counseling and accompaniment for sexual assault victims, parenting education and youth services that cost $100,000 per month. During the impasse, the Y did not receive its due reimbursement.

Now, at last, it's over. Or it should be.

More than a week after announcing the handshake deal, Gov. Rendell and the lawmakers continue to haggle over the details. The haggling now threatens to become heavy enough to drag down the deal.

It's been a hard year. We understand that. The state budget will be bitter for everyone. We expect that.

And while it would be too much to say we believe our lawmakers to be up to the task, three months and counting seems to be pushing the patience threshhold of even a Pennsylvania voter.