Here is how events are unfolding. All times Eastern.
Jan 25, 2021, 6:27 PM EST
Senate confirms Janet Yellen as secretary of the treasury
The Senate Monday voted to confirm Janet Yellen as secretary of the treasury, making her the first woman to lead the department in its over 230-year history.
Janet Yellen speaks as Biden announces nominees and appointees to serve on his economic policy team at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, Dec. 1, 2020.
Leah Millis/Reuters, FILE
Yellen won confirmation by a 84-15 vote as she now takes the helm of a department critical in delivering COVID-19 relief aid and managing the economy.
Appointed by former President Barack Obama, Yellen served one term as Federal Reserve chair before former President Donald Trump decided not to re-appoint her to lead the central bank. She was also the first woman to hold that position.
Jan 25, 2021, 6:25 PM EST
Biden predicts up to 660K COVID-19 deaths 'before we begin to turn the corner'
After Biden signed an executive order aimed to increase the amount of federal spending that goes to American companies, he took questions from reporters on a wide range of topics -- as his administration tries to promote an image of transparency.
On COVID-19, Biden said he hoped the rate of vaccination would increase to 1.5 million injections a day and predicted up to 660,000 COVID-19 deaths "before we begin to turn the corner in a major way."
Asked "roughly when do you think anyone who wants (to be vaccinated) would be able to get it," Biden said, "this spring."
But he added about the pandemic in general, "We're still going to be dealing with this issue in the early fall."
The nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has also said he expects April is when eligibility for the vaccine would open up to all Americans and that it would take until early summer to get the job done.
President Joe Biden speaks about administration plans to strengthen American manufacturing as Vice President Kamala Harris listens in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 25, 2021.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Biden did not directly answer if teachers should be returning to in-person classroom settings "now," as a reporter asked, given that reopening schools is key to his agenda in the first 100 days.
"I believe we should make school classrooms safe and secure for the students, for the teachers and for the -- the help that's in the schools maintaining the facilities," he said.
On the ongoing negotiations over his $1.9 trillion relief package, Biden pointed to his long career in Washington as proof that he can get a deal done, but said that this process is "just beginning" and that it'll likely be another "couple of weeks" before a deal is reached, adding, "Time is of the essence."
Addressing his theme of unity, Biden got a chance to reflect what that actually means to him, saying that ultimately it comes down to eliminating "the vitriol."
"Unity requires you to take away -- eliminate the vitriol. … Unity, also, is trying to reflect what the majority of the American people -- Democrat, Republican, and Independent -- think is within the fulcrum of what needs to be done to make their lives and the lives of Americans better," he said.
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Justin Gomez
Jan 25, 2021, 4:03 PM EST
Biden signs executive order aimed at strengthening US manufacturing
Ahead of signing a "Made in America" executive order Monday, Biden delivered remarks on how he was fulfilling a long-time campaign promise to increase the amount of federal spending that goes to American companies.
"The previous administration didn't take it seriously enough," Biden began. "The result: Tens of billions of American taxpayer dollar supporting foreign jobs and foreign industries."
"I'll be signing an executive order in just a moment tightening the existing buy-American policies and go further," he continued. "That starts with stopping federal agencies from waiving buy-American requirements with impunity as has been going on. If an agency wants to issue a waiver to say, 'We're not going to buy an American product as part of this project, we're going to buy a foreign product,' they have to come to the White House and explain it to us."
The federal government spends about $600 billion on contracting per year, and there are already rules in place governing how taxpayer dollars can be spent, how much foreign products can be purchased, and how many foreign components can be brought to the U.S. and assembled here. However, waivers and loopholes allow even more foreign product to be purchased than the rules state.
Biden’s executive order aims to close those loopholes and cut down on the waivers, as well as order an increase in domestic content. It will also redefine what can count as domestic content, create a public website so U.S. companies can more easily see government contract business and determine whether they could make a more competitive bid for it.
The executive order also creates a new senior role at the Office of Management and Budget to oversee the implementation of these new efforts.
Biden signed the order after brief remarks and opened the floor to reporter questions.
-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle
Jan 25, 2021, 3:44 PM EST
Leahy issues statement on presiding over Trump's impeachment trial
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., president pro tempore of the Senate, has posted a public statement confirming he will preside over former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
"When I preside over the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, I will not waver from my constitutional and sworn obligations to administer the trial with fairness, in accordance with the Constitution and the law," Leahy wrote.
Asked earlier on Capitol Hill about his ability to be impartial as he's been a frequent critic of Trump, Leahy said, "I’m not presenting the evidence."
Sen. Patrick Leahy at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2021.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP, FILE
"I am making sure that procedures are followed. I don’t think there’s any senator who over the 40 plus years I’ve been here that would say that I am anything but impartial in ruling on procedure," he added.
Leahy will still get a vote on whether to convict the former president.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump's first impeachment trial, but now that Trump is no longer the sitting president, Democrats argue Roberts is not obligated to preside. It will be the first time Congress has ever put a former president on trial.
