Congress and the Federal Shutdown

Recently, I learned that during a shutdown of the federal government, Congress, the ones who caused the shutdown in the first place, would still be paid, while thousands of federal employees would be furloughed until the end of the shutdown. This is completely unfair, and honestly makes no sense. Congress is getting paid the same salary, which is a ridiculous amount to begin with, while every other federal worker is either working without pay or is on a forced, unpaid vacation. The shutdown is the result of congress members not doing their jobs correctly. In our world, if business leaders refuse to come up with a way to work together, they get fired or at the very least lose some of their money. In Congress's case, however, they get to make everyone else stop what their doing and wait on a compromise.
Another problem I have with Congress, besides it not doing its job, is that they are making innocent people who had no part in this shutdown suffer. For example, one of the programs that was hit the hardest by the shutdown was the food stamp WIC, or Women, Infants, Children program, which provides additional assistance to pregnant women, new mothers, and children. The WIC part of the food stamp program will not receive any additional funding, so the families that are part of this program will have to somehow manage without additional assistance until the shutdown is over. Also, the annual Naval Academy-Air Force Academy football game may not be played, and the rest of the service academies' athletics may not be able to participate in any more intercollegiate competition until the shutdown ends, because upperclassmen are considered military personnel and are subject to the restrictions associated with the shutdown. Both of these are examples of innocent people, not involved at all in the shutdown, being punished for Congress's incompetence.
While I know that the shutdown is not the end of the world, and that different factions of Congress are more responsible for the shutdown than others, I do have a problem with Congress disconnecting itself from the shutdown so that the members are hardly affected by it. Congress caused this shutdown, and they should at least feel some of the consequences of their actions. If the Canadian parliament gets to the point where they cause a federal shutdown, parliament is dissolved, and a general election is held to replace or reelect the members. I feel that this is a good idea for the American Congress: it did not do its job, and therefore it should have to answer for its incompetence immediately.