Debt talks run down to the wire: Does it have to be like this?

High-stakes negotiations over the debt limit are intensifying between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden as the clock ticks down toward default on the country’s record national debt. 

Though there are growing signals that they are getting closer to a deal, conservative Republicans are threatening to block it. All of which begs the question: Why is the country increasingly finding itself in this risky dance with default? 

If Congress does not increase the amount the country is allowed to borrow, a step Mr. McCarthy said he will support only if paired with significant spending cuts, the United States could default as soon as June 1. The standoff has underscored the gravity of America’s current finances – and just how broken the mechanisms are for getting the nation’s fiscal house in order. 

In recent years, budget measures have been passed largely along party lines, using a congressional loophole to get