By Graig Graziosi

Copyright independent

A self-described Republican voter has given House Speaker Mike Johnson a grim reminder of the consequences of a prolonged government shutdown.

“My kids could die,” a woman, calling herself Samantha and a Republican voter, said.

Samantha called in to speak to Johnson while he was taking questions from callers on C-SPAN on Thursday. She said she’s concerned about what will happen to her family if military service members don’t get paid next week as a result of the shutdown.

She revealed that she has “two medically fragile children” and that her husband “actively serves his country” and was twice deployed to Afghanistan.

“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,” she said.

During her call, Samantha noted comments Johnson made on Wednesday after he was asked if he would allow a vote on a bill providing members of the military with emergency pay during the shutdown.

Johnson responded by saying the Democrats were “clamoring to get back here and have another vote, because some of them want to get on record and say they’re for paying the troops.”

“We already had that vote,” Johnson said. “It’s called the [continuing resolution].”

Both the Trump administration and broader Congressional Republicans have continued to shift all responsibility for the problems caused by the shutdown onto Democrats.

Active-duty servicemembers are required to work unpaid during the shutdown. Their paychecks will stop coming next Wednesday October 15 if the Senate doesn’t pass a funding bill by then, the Military Times reports.

Many government workers, including servicemembers, should expect to receive backpay once the government shutdown comes to an end.

Democrats were holding out for an extension for expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits in an effort to prevent health insurance costs from skyrocketing for some Americans. They also were demanding a reversal of Trump’s Medicaid cuts and the removal of proposed spending cuts to a number of government health agencies.

Republicans have opted to refuse further negotiations and blame the Democrats for the problems caused by a shuttered federal government, which is now in its second week.

Samantha has bigger worries than which lawmaker will come out on top in the political game of chicken being played at the Capitol.

“If we see a lapse in pay come the 15th, my children do not get to get the medication that’s needed for them to live their life, because we live paycheck to paycheck,” she told Johnson.

She continued, saying she was “very disappointed in my party, and I’m very disappointed in you,” reminding Johnson that he has the power to call the House back into session.

The next session of the House will convene on Tuesday.

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

Johnson took no responsibility for the shutdown. He told Samantha that he was “angry because of situations just like yours,” adding that many military families live in his district and “have children in health situations like yours.”

“This is what keeps me up at night,” he said. “I want you to hear something very clearly: The Republicans are the ones delivering for you.”

He continued, using the opportunity to heap blame on Democrats for refusing to back the Republicans’ continuing resolution.

“The Democrats are the ones that are preventing you from getting a check. If we did another, a vote on the floor, pay troops, it’s not a lawmaking exercise, because [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer is going to hold that up in the Senate,” Johnson said.

NBC News spoke to a representative for Schumer about Johnson’s allegations, who said the senator’s team has “no idea what Speaker Johnson is talking about.”

On Thursday, Schumer lashed out at Republicans, who he said “refuse to negotiate.”

“Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans and the clearer it becomes who is fighting for them each day. Our case to fix health care and end the shutdown gets better and better, stronger and stronger, because families are opening their letters showing how high their premiums will climb if Republicans get their way, they’re seeing why this fight matters,” Schumer said. “It’s about protecting their health care, their bank accounts, their futures.”

Johnson reportedly told fellow Republican lawmakers during a Thursday conference call that he had no intention of allowing the passage of a standalone bill to pay military service members, according to two sources on the call who spoke to NBC News.

The sources said that two Republicans on the call expressed concerns about how Johnson was handling the shutdown, but others spoke up to support his current strategy.