Today, because Congress could not make a decision about a spending plan, national parks and museums will close, air traffic controllers and federal prison guards are expected to work without pay, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees are being indefinitely furloughed. The responsible party for this shutdown is Congress, yet they do not suffer the effects of their inability to compromise and make a decision.

Congress needs to take resposibility here, and have their salaries suspended. It is blatantly unfair to punish government employees who played no part in this shutdown. If I am at work, and I fail to do my job, I will be punished or even terminated from my position. Why are Congresspeople just let off the hook with no consequences when they have caused something that can have far-reaching effects on our economy, and the well-being of hundreds of thousands of federal employees?

In the event of a partial government shutdown in the future, Congresspeople need to take a hit. Their inability to decide here has had no effect on them, and I think the American people will agree that's just not right. Instead of forcing unrelated, innocent federal government employees to work without pay or be furloughed, Congress should be expected to work without pay until they can resolve this issue. This will provide some incentive to Congress to compromise and pass a spending plan, so we can hopefully avert this kind of situation in the future.