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

Biden is sending senior members of his team to the southern border to see first-hand the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border -- but beyond the reason and the existence of the trip, the White House is not revealing any additional details.

White House spokesperson Vedant Patel told ABC News in a statement that the president has asked these senior members of his team to travel there "in order to provide a full briefing to him on the government response to the influx ... and an assessment of additional steps that can be taken to ensure the safety and care of these children."

"Out of safety, security, and privacy concerns the date and time of this visit will remain confidential but the White House will provide a read out of the visit once it concludes," Patel continued.

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Crisis on the Southern border

The government says it’s running out of beds at its facilities for parentless migrant children as agents tackle a surge in border crossings. ABC’s Ike Ejiochi has more.

ABCNews.com

-ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega and Molly Nagle

Biden thanked and congratulated the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) team involved in the successful landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars in a video call Thursday evening.

The president sat at the desk facing a large monitor, another one over his shoulder. He took no questions, but spoke at length with the NASA team, thanking them for all their work and everything they’ve done to inspire and bring hope to the nation.

"You feel like you’re living a dream. You’ve created a dream for millions of young kids and Americans. You all did this," Biden said.

He said the team had restored "a dose of confidence in the American people" and that it was a result of their belief in "science and hard work."

"It’s bigger than landing on Mars," the president said. "It’s about the American spirit. And you did it. It matters. Democracies have to show how they can run better than autocracies. I can’t tell you how much I believe historians will write about what you did at the moment you did it. You should take great pride in it. We can land on Mars. Beat a pandemic, with science. God only knows what will come from this. I just wanted to thank you. Tell you I am so proud of you. Not a thing we cannot do when we set our minds to it."

NASA's Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Mars in late February. It was one of the agency's most ambitious deep-space missions designed to search for signs of ancient life on the planet.

Present were members of the team including Michael Watkins, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Swati Mohan, guidance and controls operations lead of Mars 2020, Luis Dominguez, deputy electrical lead of Mars 2020, Matt Smith, spacecraft systems engineer and Researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Annalise Sundberg, Assembly, Test, & Launch Operations systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Also on the call were more than 6,080 employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from across the country.

-ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce and Sarah Kolinovsky

A Capitol security review will recommend adding roughly 1,000 new Capitol Police officers to the force and improving infrastructure around the Capitol Hill complex, according to an executive summary obtained by ABC News. 

The draft report -- shared with congressional leaders and relevant committees -- recommends replacing the temporary, razor wire-topped fencing around the House and Senate office buildings with mobile and retractable fencing that could still "enable an open campus," absent any threats. It also recommends empowering the Capitol Police chief to request assistance from federal law enforcement and the D.C. National Guard in an emergency, to avoid the extensive delays that plagued the response to the Jan. 6 riot. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday that lawmakers will review the draft and "hear what the security folks have to say” before proposing any changes to the Capitol's security apparatus. 

The review, details of which were first reported by CNN, also recommends establishing a permanent quick reaction force to be on standby in Washington to supplement Capitol Police and local law enforcement when needed, suggests that Capitol Police maintain civil disobedience units when Congress is in session and consider reestablishing a mounted unit that could help patrol the Capitol grounds. 

-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel

The Senate is taking up the COVID relief bill after Vice President Kamala Harris came to the floor to break the tie.

Republicans who claim the bill is massive and won't address issues related to the pandemic have set the stage for a lengthy series of procedural measures designed to slow down momentum.

Democrats, however, are projecting that they will hold together and vote unanimously in favor of the aid after Biden made concessions to appease the moderates.

"We're going to just keep drinking coffee and getting this thing done," Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Trish Turner