The 103 members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who voted this week to make 2023 the “Taylor Swift Era” in the commonwealth could learn something from the 34-year-old pop star: timing.

The resolution passed 103-100 Wednesday, Dec. 13, with most Republicans voting against it. Like so many resolutions passed by legislatures around the nation, it’s entirely symbolic. And while symbolic resolutions might seem harmless, this one feels somewhat galling.

Representatives are certainly well within their rights to recognize Swift, who spent much of her childhood near Philadelphia, especially considering her success and her commitment to causes from voter registration to hunger relief this year.

But Wednesday was also a day many legislative leaders spent in frantic negotiations trying to clear up gridlock around the budget. The budget that was supposed to be passed before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, but eventually got a legislative OK in early October.

Also still waiting for action from both the House and the Senate were multiple funding bills needed to make sure the money lawmakers budgeted goes where it’s supposed to.

It was after 10 p.m. Wednesday when lawmakers were finally able to move past the 167-day budget impasse.

Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia County, anticipated some criticism when she quoted Swift, saying “Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.” But the issue isn’t honoring Swift, it’s the total lack of action from our elected representatives.

The delayed budget started impacting some programs locally within weeks. We have written multiple stories about how the delay is going to cost Butler County Community College thousands of dollars.

So, despite what McClinton might suggest, this isn’t about whether someone is a Swiftie. It’s about the fact leaders in both the House and the Senate took nearly six months to meet a deadline, and they spent much of that time not in session.

In fact, Swift herself has a song that Pennsylvania’s legislative leaders should have sung when they failed to meet the June 30 deadline: “All You Had to Do Was Stay.”

—JK