Our politicians get away with this, because so far, every time they go back to the powder room, they find another powder keg. At some point, they will open the door, and there will be no more powder. Then, we are well and truly fucked, and the world is fucked, too.
Illinois has been doing this for decades (creating debt for special interests, essentially borrowing from future Illinoisans and future non-Illinoisans). I suppose they are counting on other states to bail them out. But no one will be able to bail out the United States on that fateful day that the rest of the world loses faith in the dollar. Like the next pandemic, I don't think we can stop that from happening. It will happen, it is just a matter of when. Next 10 years? Next 30 years? Next 50 years? Who knows. Buy gold (and maybe even lead) now, unless you have confidence in the ability of our politicians to start spending responsibly.