As of today, Pennsylvania is the only state without a budget.

Connecticut also had lacked spending authority since July 1, but its Democrat-led General Assembly on Wednesday approved a $37.6 billion budget scheduled to take effect today.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she would let the budget become law without her signature, but vowed to veto more than $8 million in what she called pork-barrel projects.

In Pennsylvania, a House-Senate conference committee on the budget met Tuesday for the first time in more than a month.

Little had changed.

Once again, Democrats maintained that new tax revenue was needed to stave off multibillion-dollar deficits, Republicans said spending cuts could shrink future funding gaps — and the budget standoff appeared no closer to being resolved.

Tuesday marked the beginning of the third month without a budget.

The three senators and three representatives who make up a House-Senate conference committee wound up two hours of discussion by agreeing to prepare a comparison of the parties' competing budget plans to be considered at their next, still-to-be-scheduled meeting.

The effects of the impasse are being felt across the state, as counties come up with emergency funding to keep community colleges and day-cares open.

Local schools are dipping into reserves, and Pottstown School District has already put on the table the possibility of closing an elementary school mid-year depending on the outcome of the state budget process.

Gov. Ed Rendell came to Norristown Wednesday to plead the case of school funding shortfalls, which he says are being furthered by Republicans' stanch on tax increases.

The governor claimed a bill proposed by state Republican lawmakers would cut basic education funding by $729 million, leaving a gap that would be filled temporarily by federal stimulus money. However, that funding source will dry up in three years.

"(If) there's a billion-dollar hole in the state education spending," he said, "you can bet you're going to pay higher taxes."

He said more than $200 million in funding for southeastern Pennsylvania schools is jeopardized by the budget impasse.

On the other side of the aisle, state Sen. John Rafferty Jr., R-44th Dist., called the governor's claims misleading, particularly since no school funding figures have been agreed on.

"The silly part of it is, there's no budget right now," he said.

Rafferty said one-third of the state's education budget goes to Philadelphia School District, which makes up 11 percent of the state's population. He said schools in the suburbs deserve their fair share of state funding.

"We're trying to drive more funding out to our district, where property taxes are significant," he said.

And thus the stalemate continues with neither side willing to compromise, and in an atmosphere that lacks a sense of immediacy.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation without a budget, and the lawmakers in Harrisburg hardly seem to notice.

They continue in recess, their leaders drawing up plans that both sides know will not be taken seriously by the other, and the governor travels the state making speeches.

Is anyone in Harrisburg even awake to what's going on? As of today, Pennsylvania stands alone in its incompetence.