Hasta La Gadget!

The clock struck 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday with congressional lawmakers incapable of reaching an agreement on a short-term measure to fund the government. The failure led to the first government shutdown since 1996, and stood as another low point for a Congress that’s pretty much only had low points.

With the historically unpopular Congress now responsible for losing the paychecks of as many as 800,000 federal workers — at least until it can come up with an agreement to end the shutdown — many would think it only fair to expect lawmakers to feel some of the financial pain of their latest embarrassment. Instead, this is happening: