The federal government remains closed amid a bitter impasse on Capitol Hill over competing congressional spending bills.
President Donald Trump and Republicans have cast blame for the shutdown on Democrats' health care demands, while Democrats insist Republicans need to negotiate.
The Trump administration has threatened mass layoffs of some federal workers during the shutdown.
Johnson was asked by reporters to respond to President Donald Trump's latest social media posts depicting AI-generated videos that taunted Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought as the "grim reaper" and another that made fun of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The speaker has said for days that the shutdown is hard on federal workers who are not getting paid. Johnson, however, defended Trump's threats and trolling.
"The effects are really serious on real people, real Americans. We support federal employees who do a great job in all of these different areas, but what they're trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, was to point out the absurdity of the Democrats' position," he said.
"And they are using the memes and the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining, but the decisions are hard ones and they are not taking any pleasure in that," he added.
Johnson reiterated claims that Trump has the power to make the firings, but would not provide more details or explanation as to how those terminations would affect the budget.
Vought and the Department of Transportation announced Friday that the federal government would be withholding funds for two Chicago Transit Authority projects, the CTA Red Line Extension and the CTA Red and Purple Modernization Program.
The DOT said it was probing whether CTA was involved with "unconstitutional practices" where it promoted "race- and sex-based contracting and other racial preferences as a public policy."
The announcement came days after Vought withheld funding for New York and New Jersey-based transit infrastructure funding for the same reason.
"Together, these critical reviews are intended to ensure no additional federal dollars go towards discriminatory, illegal, and wasteful contracting practices," DOT said in a statement.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson didn't immediately comment.
-ABC News' Ayesha Ali
President Donald Trump took to social media Friday to troll Democrats and critics with AI-generated videos.
In one post, the president posted an AI-generated video depicting OMB Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper as the administration threatens mass layoffs for federal workers.
"Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds, and the brain. Here comes the Reaper," someone sings in the video as Vought is depicted walking through the Capitol as the character.
In another post, Trump posted another AI video of him hitting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a "TRUMP 2028" hat while they were seated in the White House.
Jeffries, who was the subject of a deep fake post by Trump earlier in the week, has not immediately responded.
-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa
The Senate is scheduled to reconvene Friday and take up two stopgap-funding bills -- one sponsored by each party -- that could end the government shutdown that began Wednesday.
Friday’s session is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. ET, with voting expected in the afternoon.
Democrats on Wednesday blocked, for the third time, a stopgap funding bill offered by Republicans. Democrats are insisting that any solution address their demands on health care before they vote to advance it.
No votes were held on Thursday, as the Senate broke for Yom Kippur.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday again placed the blame for the shutdown on Democrats, saying they were "playing a losing game" by not supporting the House-passed Republican bill, which would provide government funding for seven weeks.
With a government shutdown now appearing all but inevitable following two failed votes in the Senate on Tuesday, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is telling federal agencies they "should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown."
Government funding is set to lapse at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
In a memo to the heads of federal agencies and departments, Vought cast blame on Democratic senators for the impending shutdown, writing that they are blocking a "clean" continuing resolution to fund the government.
"It is unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict,” Vought wrote. "Regardless, employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities."
Vought said he would issue another memo indicating that government functions should resume once President Donald Trump signs an appropriations bill.
-ABC News' Hannah Demissie and Meghan Mistry
