USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1

Frustrations continue over the government shutdown, as House Republican leaders again blamed Democrats and Speaker Mike Johnson voicing exasperation over the prolonged impasse on Capitol Hill.

“I’m sorry. I’m aggravated,” Johnson admitted at a news conference in the Capitol on Wednesday as he caught his emotions bubbling up. “The first responsibility of the government is to protect the people. And the people who are supposed to be protected are being completely cheated by Democrats in the Senate because they want to play politics.”

Ahead of a sixth attempt to break the stalemate in the Senate today, Johnson emphasized that the House’s clean continuing resolution would avert the pain inflicted during a shutdown.

“They have another chance today to reopen the government, and we'll see if they do the right thing,” Johnson said.

-ABC News' John Parkinson and Lauren Peller

The White House claims it has found a “creative solution” to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children program running as funding for it threatens to run out during the shutdown.

“Thankfully, President Trump and the White House have identified a creative solution to transfer resources from Section 232 tariff revenue to this critical program,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Leavitt continued to place the blame on Democrats using the funding fix as a way to score political points.

“The Democrats are so cruel in their continual votes to shut down the government that they forced the WIC program for the most vulnerable women and children to run out this week.”

ABC News has reached out to the White House on how the process will work.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa

Some senators slammed the suggestion of denying back pay for federal workers after a draft memo from the Trump administration suggested it might not be guaranteed for furloughed workers.

"I believe it's a strategic mistake to now let those folks know, or let them think, that they could potentially not get back pay. If I were them, I'd start looking for another job. And there's a lot of good, hardworking people out there," Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said.

"I don't think that that is helpful discussion right now," Tillis later added. "Let's get out of the shutdown."

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut argued that withholding back pay would be illegal.

"The law is they're entitled to back pay," Blumenthal said. "Not surprisingly, the White House, again, is potentially defying the law, but Congress, on both sides of the aisle, should take a stand against denying pay entitled to furloughed workers and to people who are on the job, our military, TSA, air controllers, they all ought to be paid. We all ought to have basic agreement on that point."

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware also criticized the memo, calling it "inappropriate."

-ABC News' Fritz Farrow

While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled willingness to pass some sort of legislation that would provide emergency funding to pay members of the military during the shutdown. The House would have to return to Washington in order for this legislation to pass.

"We want to make sure that our troops are paid," Johnson said. "We're looking forward to processing all of this as soon as we gather everybody back up, but again the most immediate thing is turn the lights back on here and keep Congress working so we can take care of all of this important business."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, however, underscored that legislation wouldn't be necessary if the House-passed clean continuing resolution were approved by Senate Democrats.

"Honestly you don't need that. You don't need -- obviously there are certain constituencies many of whom are going to be impacted in a very negative way by what is happening here but the simplest way to end it is not try to exempt this group or that group or that group it is to get the government open and then all the consequences of that, adverse consequences of that, go by the way side," Thune said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin