Johnson reiterated Thursday that he will not bring the House back to pass a standalone bill to ensure military troops get paid amid a government shutdown.

If Congress fails to reopen the government by Oct. 15, it will mark the first time in modern history when service members missed a paycheck due to the government shutdown.

"We have already voted to pay the troops. We did it three weeks ago. We put that bill on the floor, and the Republicans voted to pay the troops," Johnson said at a news conference in the Capitol Thursday morning.

The speaker's comments came hours after a C-SPAN caller named Samantha, a Republican from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, told Johnson she was "very disappointed" with the Republican party over the government shutdown. She said her "kids could die" if her family experiences a lapse in pay on Oct. 15.

""I think that it is awful, and the audacity of someone who makes six figures a year to do this to military families is insane," Samantha told the speaker directly.

Johnson addressed the caller during the news conference and blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"They live paycheck to paycheck. Many of these service members, and this is not a game. Chuck Schumer thinks it is," he said.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller and Anne Flaherty

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday that air traffic controllers who don't show up for work during the shutdown won't get paid and could be let go from their positions.

"When you come to work, you get paid," Duffy said in remarks on Fox Business' Varney & Co. "We need the best and the brightest, the dedicated controllers, and if we have some on our staff that aren't dedicated, we're going to let them go."

Duffy claimed 53% of flight delays across the country are being caused by controller staffing shortages.

There are currently 1,613 delays nationwide and no FAA staffing triggers.

Some of the delays are due to other factors like runway closures or weather.

-ABC News' Clara McMichael and Ayesha Ali

The IRS said it will furlough nearly half of its workforce as "most IRS operations are closed" due to the lapse in funding.

According to the IRS contingency plan released Wednesday, out of 74,299 employees, 39,870 would be retained as exempt, while 34,429 would be furloughed.

The plan states that work related to protecting government property and revenue will continue, including processing tax returns with payments, maintaining online systems and operating taxpayer verification services. Most other operations like taxpayer assistance and audits would pause until funding is restored.

-ABC News' Will Steakin

The Senate on Wednesday held a sixth round of votes on dueling measures from Republicans and Democrats to fund the government. Both attempts to advance legislation failed, with the shutdown now stretching into its eighth day.

The Democratic-led government funding bill that includes health care provisions failed by a vote of 47-52. As was the case the previous five times the bill was voted on, no Republican supported it.

The GOP-led government funding bill that would reopen the government until Nov. 21 also failed to get the 60 votes needed, with the final tally being 54-45.