While the bickering and finger-pointing over who is at fault in the government shutdown continues, many workers who rely on a federal paycheck are now furloughed and wondering what is next.

Many visitors to the vast number of national parks run by the federal government that are currently closed are frustrated they cannot visit the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Visitors to the National Military Park here in Vicksburg found a sign on the door to the visitors center saying it was closed.

As Dan O’Mera, a California firefighter who wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island told the Associated Press Saturday, “… it’s troubling that the people we voted in are not doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing.”

There appeared to be no resolution Saturday with neither the Republicans or Democrats showing any sign of backing down in their standoff.

Senate Democrats, who killed a GOP-written House-passed measure that would have kept government agencies functioning for four weeks, have insisted they would back legislation reopening government once there’s a bipartisan agreement to preserve protections against deporting around 700,000 immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children.

House Republicans refuse to negotiate while the government is shuttered.

This is the fourth government shutdown in the last quarter century. The most recent was in 2013 when tea party Republicans sought to use a must-pass budget bill to try to force President Barack Obama to delay implementation of his health care law — a strategy similar to what Democrats are trying now.

But like previous government shutdowns, it does not benefit anyone and only proves how truly dysfunctional the federal government is in Washington D.C.

Both sides are banking on the blame for the shutdown to hurt the other in November’s mid-term elections.

If the shutdown is prolonged, neither side wins.

The shutdown hurts those employees who rely upon  our government for a paycheck, tourism that relies upon visitors and hammers another wedge in the decisiveness that separates our nation.