Biden's 1st 100 days live updates: Senate passes COVID relief bill along party lines

Biden, attending a Democratic Senate caucus virtual lunch Tuesday afternoon, urged Democrats to come together and support his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill and to reject amendments that might change the bill and imperil its passage, according to Democratic sources.

This is part of the president's latest push to get his COVID-19 relief bill passed as it's expected to be voted on in the Senate this week.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

White House press secretary Jen Psaki discussed at the White House press briefing U.S. sanctions reported Tuesday morning of seven "senior" Russian officials and adding one government research institute and 13 businesses to export restrictions. The sanctions are over the Russian government's poisoning and detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

"As a demonstration of our Transatlantic unity and cooperation with partners over the ocean, many of the actions we are taking mirror the steps the EU took in October and match additional EU measures being taken today," Psaki said. "We also reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny."

Psaki said the sanctions are not a "silver bullet" that will repair or end the "challenging relationship" with Russia. She also did not rule out further actions after additional review of the Russian government's "concerning behavior."

"There is an ongoing review...we reserve the right to take any additional actions at the conclusion of that review, and just reiterating that the tone and the tenor and the type of relationship that this president intends to have with President Putin will be quite different from the last administration," Psaki said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the White House has engaged with 375 lawmakers and their offices in a push to have Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed.

"In the past two weeks alone, we've engaged with over 375 members and offices, over 100 of which were bipartisan engagements, and our COVID team has also started biweekly bipartisan member briefing  with the Senate and House where, of course, we talk about the American Rescue Plan and the impact it can have," Psaki said.

Psaki added that Biden met with nine Democratic senators virtually on Monday and will meet with the Senate Democratic caucus virtually on Tuesday.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki discussed the partnership between longtime competitors Merck and Johnson & Johnson to ramp up production of the single-shot J&J vaccine, which was greenlighted by the Food and Drug Administration Saturday.

"The two largest health care and pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, usually competitors, are coming together to expand production of the vaccine, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine drug substance, as well as increase its fill finish capacity," Psaki said. "They will enter into a historic manufacturing partnership to expand that, I should say."

Psaki touted the White House's role in getting the companies to work together, saying it "speaks to the ability of this administration, broadly, to bring them to the table and work together to address the pandemic in the country." She also discussed how the federal government is working to facilitate making the vaccine available, including providing support from the Department of Defense and using the Defense Production Act.

"The US Government will facilitate this partnership in several key ways including invoking the Defense Production Act to equip two Merck facilities to the standards necessary, safely manufacture the vaccine, and asking the Department of Defense to provide daily logistical support to strengthen Johnson & Johnson's efforts," Psaki said.