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 C-SPAN 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, which would fund the government through Nov. 21.

“This is what keeps me up at night,” he said. “The Republicans are the ones delivering for you. We had a vote to pay the troops. It was the continuing resolution three weeks ago.”

He added: “The Democrats are the ones preventing you from getting a check.”

Earlier in the week, Johnson had said he’s open to the idea of calling the House back to Washington to vote on a stand-alone bill to ensure that troops and air traffic controllers are paid, even as the rest of the government remains shut down. That idea is opposed by GOP leaders in the Senate, however, and on Wednesday, Johnson walked back his support for the stand-alone bill.

Without congressional action, military personnel will not receive their first paychecks since the shutdown, which are scheduled to go out Wednesday.