The White House is capitalizing on comments made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said as the shutdown goes on, "every day gets better for us."

Schumer made the comment to Punchbowl defending the Democrats' shutdown strategy.

"It's because we've thought about this long in advance and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30 and we prepared for it," he said. "Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two."

The White House quickly took note and began to criticize Schumer online.

"While Schumer is celebrating, Americans are suffering. America last. Every. Single. Time," said a post on the official White House account on X.

"Better for Schumer. Worse for Americans. What a vile sentiment from an alleged leader in our country," Vice President JD Vance said on X.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

Following the two tense confrontations on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Johnson said the disputes are getting "personal" but argued it's better for House lawmakers to be "separated right now" as the government shutdown drags on.

Johnson continued to berate Democrats, claiming they are "playing games."

"It gets personal. Emotions are high. People are upset," he said. "This is dangerous stuff, and so is it better for them [House lawmakers], probably being physically separated right now? Yeah, probably is."

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

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