Government shutdown updates: OMB’s Vought says mass firings ‘have begun’

Russ Vought said in a social media post that the administration is making good on their threat of mass firings of the federal workforce.

​Russ Vought said in a social media post that the administration is making good on their threat of mass firings of the federal workforce.   

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that President Donald Trump is “working on ways” to ensure the military troops get paid during the shutdown, but did not provide specifics.

“The executive branch, the president is working on ways that he may have as well to ensure that troops are paid. The Republican Party stands for paying the troops. The Democrats are the ones that are demonstrating over and over and over now eight times that you don’t want troops to be paid,” Johnson said at a news conference in the Capitol.

Johnson appeared frustrated as he was asked by ABC News’ Jay O’Brien why he hasn’t made separate legislation to ensure troops are paid.

“We did that. We passed the bill. We have voted eight times. Republicans have voted eight times to pay troops, to pay the civilian workforce, to pay TSA agents, border patrol, air traffic controllers and all the rest. We’ve done it,” he said.

The House canceled votes for next Tuesday and the lower chamber has no immediate plans to return to Washington, D.C.

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller and John Parkinson