Will we crash? Great debt ceiling train wreck headed toward us

Editor's note: Officials have announced that the estimated date the U.S. would reach its debt ceiling is Monday, June 5. As of May 29, a tentative deal had been reached to avoid a "catastrophic default," which will now go to Congress for approval.

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is the train wreck action in “The Longest Day,” the definitive movie about the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II.

It’s early morning on the 6^th of June, 1944, and the French Resistance is busy attacking German logistics and communications in Northern France to disrupt the defenders’ response to the invasion. This particular scene shows an actual event during that day — the Nazi troop train chugging towards the French partisans as they work feverishly to plant the explosive charges that will blow the rail line and destroy the train. The camera shows the locomotive chugging ominously towards the partisans who, in the nick of time blow the charges and the locomotive, still rushing towards the camera, slowly tilts to the right as it comes off the rails, dragging the rest of the troop cars to disaster.

If you are of a younger generation and thought “Saving Private Ryan” was the story of D-Day, I invite you to check out Darryl F. Zanuck’s 1962 classic film for a broader historic view, in black and white.

But if you just like train wrecks, all you had to do was watch CNN, or wherever your favorite media talking heads reside. They've been focused on the looming United States of America debt ceiling and national debt default crisis. And it will be happening in slow motion (Zanuck’s wreck was normal speed), so you can sip a beer and gaze in wonderment at the stupidity and recklessness of some people in our Congress.

For the uninitiated, this fiscal drama train wreck is totally unnecessary. We have a proven system of national budgeting where the president and Congress actually have negotiations with conference committees wrangling out the details, the result of the give and take arm wrestling eventually to be approved by both entities. I was fortunate to see this firsthand during my Air Force career and subsequent work in the 111^th Congress as the 2^nd Congressional District Director. The debt ceiling, created back in 1917 by the Second Liberty Bond Act, has usually (but not always) been a pretty much pro forma up and down vote, not connected (usually) with the budget. Occasionally, some Members of Congress who are unhappy with already approved Congressional spending, get the bit between their teeth and use the debt ceiling to hold hostages to force their will upon the rest of us. In this case, the Republican Freedom Caucus has you, me,  President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy tied up in a warehouse down by the river, threatening default on our huge national debt. We are about to enter uncharted monetary territory here, all because a few people don’t like what has already been agreed and want to up end the whole works, not patient enough to approach it correctly.

And Kevin McCarthy is stuck in the middle, because he knows it’s either go with his MAGA crowd or show some leadership and do the right thing, which is decouple the debt and spending debate at the risk of a “one man one vote” recall of his position. If McCarthy doesn’t blink, then Joltin’ Joe will exercise some leadership and be forced to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment just to keep the bills being paid, for a little while, because the “Freedom” people will of course challenge that through the courts.

What’s so ironic about this mess is that arguments happened over Memorial Day weekend, when we should have been reflecting on the sacrifices of those servicemen and women who have made this nation and government what it is today. Defaulting on the national debt will force the Treasury Department to make hard choices on what bills to pay and Veterans, Seniors and the poor are on the high on the hit list. The rest of us will be affected, too, with stocks, 401k’s and rapidly rising interest rates chiseling away at our bank accounts.

All because a few Congressional extreme right narcissists want to undo what’s already been agreed to.

Can we, as Americans, do anything about this?  The answer is YES. Google up Ms. Britt and the Coach, plus your respective Member of Congress NOW, and fire off an email requesting a stop to this insanity (oh, yes, tell the Coach to quit holding up the Armed Forces officers’ promotion list, it is really hurting our national security!). Insist that they decouple the debt ceiling and budget issues and follow long established budgetary procedures to negotiate not only cutting Federal spending, but also consider increasing income by raising taxes on the ridiculously rich and fat corporations (the trillions in income taken away through tax breaks by the previous administration have contributed to this situation).

Centuries ago, the English statesman Edmund Burke observed, “If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we shall be poor indeed.”

Indeed!

Colonel Al Allenback is an Air Force combat veteran and former Congressional District Director during the 111^th Congress.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Will we crash? Great debt ceiling train wreck headed toward us