Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday said the onus for the looming lapse in military pay falls squarely on Democrats for their refusal to support a GOP spending package.

In a rare CSPAN appearance, the first for a sitting Speaker since 2001, Johnson took an emotional call from a woman who said her husband serves in the military, and the family — including two "medically fragile children" — would be devastated by a pause in pay because "we live paycheck to paycheck."

"I am begging you to pass this legislation," she said. "My kids could die."

Johnson expressed his sympathies, then said the ball is in the court of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democrats, who have blocked the GOP's continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government through Nov. 21.

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