While the 15 motions to elect U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker of the U.S. House — and 14 failures to elect a speaker — was a colorful and contentious bit of political theater, there were important issues underlying the debate.

As much as some pundits have decried the events as embarrassing or a poor reflection on how our legislature functions, there were real issues at hand, issues that impact the future of the American people.

The conservative holdouts secured a number of concessions — perhaps most importantly a vow to use debt ceiling negotiations to press the White House to cut federal spending, what some call “pay as you go” budgeting, in which additional spending must be paired with cuts elsewhere in the budget and caps on discretionary spending over the next 10 years, according to ABC News.

The use of the vote on speaker as leverage to secure these concessions is unprecedented — It has been a century since it took this many motions to determine who the speaker is — but, as we’ve editorialized repeatedly, our nation’s financial shape is unprecedented.

We have a $31 trillion national debt. In 2016 it was about $19.5 trillion.

For too long, both parties have failed to take deficit spending and the growth of the national debt seriously. It has been a talking point, particularly for Republicans, when the other party holds the White House but irresponsibly forgotten when political fortunes shift.

In light of this reality, unprecedented steps are understandable. Unprecedented steps to cut spending and to get our fiscal house even a little closer to being in order are almost certainly necessary.