Here is how events are unfolding. All times Eastern.
Jan 28, 2021, 3:43 PM EST
White House 'not looking to split' COVID-19 relief package
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a press briefing Thursday that the White House is "not looking to split" the COVID-19 relief package the Biden administration has proposed.
"The reason is because we are not going to put ourselves in a place, or anyone in a place, where we're choosing between helping families to put food on the table and making sure kids get back to school, or making sure kids get back to school and getting a vaccine in the arms of Americans" Psaki said.
Earlier this month, Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill with funding for ongoing vaccination efforts and to address immediate economic needs. However, even moderate Republicans in Congress, like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, have expressed concern with the price tag.
Jan 28, 2021, 3:23 PM EST
Biden's DHS nominee moves toward confirmation
The nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to lead the Homeland Security Department has cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate and is now expected to move forward to a final vote on Monday evening.
Following Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s motion to limit debate on the nomination -- the first time Schumer's had to use the tool to bypass GOP efforts to slow down a Biden confirmation -- the vote will go forward with 51 votes needed to confirm, according to a senior Democratic aide.
Mayorkas has received a wide swath of support from current and former law enforcement officials, including members of the largest federal law enforcement officer’s union, the Border Patrol union -- a bipartisan group of four former secretaries and police chiefs across the country. The support came after a group of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to hold an additional hearing to consider Mayorkas.
He would be the first Latino and first immigrant to serve as Homeland Security secretary, if confirmed.
-ABC News' Quinn Owen and Allison Pecorin
Jan 28, 2021, 2:09 PM EST
Biden signs executive actions to 'undo the damage Trump has done' on health care
Biden has signed two executive actions -- one aimed at expanding enrollment for the Affordable Care Act amid the coronavirus pandemic and another that addresses reproductive health.
"It's been a busy week, and I've signed executive orders tackling COVID-19, the economic and climate crises, as well as advancing racial equity. But today, we're about to sign two executive orders that are, basically the best way to describe them, to undo the damage Trump has done," he said from the Oval Office Thursday.
Biden signed one executive order that will open a three-month enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15, allowing more Americans to sign up for health care as COVID-19 continues to engulf the country.
The Biden administration expects "most or all" of the 13 states that operate their own health insurance marketplaces to also open up enrollment at the same time it opens up the federal health insurance marketplace for a special enrollment period, a White House official said Thursday morning.
"The first one I'm going to be signing here is to strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. And of all times that we need to reinstate access to, affordability of, and extent of access to Medicaid, is now, in the middle of this COVID crisis," Biden said, stressing he wasn't initiating any new laws with his actions but strengthening provisions Trump had weakened.
He then addressed reproductive health in a presidential memorandum which rescinds the Mexico City Policy, often referred to as the "global gag rule," which was expanded under former President Donald Trump and blocks U.S. funding to international nonprofits that provide counseling or referrals for abortion, reviews Title X funding on abortion and removes the country's endorsement of the Geneva Consensus, a nonbinding declaration signed by countries opposed to abortion and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020.
"The second order I'm signing relates to protecting women's health at home and abroad, and it reinstates the changes that were made to Title X and other things making it hard for women to have access to affordable health care as it relates to their reproductive rights," he said, and signed the second action.
Jan 28, 2021, 1:53 PM EST
Biden's HUD, Council of Economic Advisers picks appear for confirmation hearing
Biden's pick for secretary of housing and urban development, Rep. Marcia Fudge, D.-Ohio, and his choice to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, testified before Senate Committee onBanking, Housing and Urban Development for a joint confirmation hearing Thursday morning.
Fudge emphasized her commitment to expanding accessible housing for Americans, if confirmed, and highlighted the housing crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We need policies and programs that can adapt to meet your unique housing challenges, and I would very much like to work with each of you to find the right answers for your states," Fudge said. "It bears mentioning, particularly in this moment of crisis that HUD, perhaps more than any other department, exists to serve the most vulnerable people in America. That mandate matters a great deal to me."
She faced scrutiny from some Republican senators about past statements and tweets critical of the GOP, but Fudge pushed back andmaintained that she would commit to working with Republicans,as she said she's done in the House.
Rouse, who Biden nominated to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, also discussed her commitment to bolstering the American economy.
"We must take action to shepherd our nation's economy back onto solid footing," Rouse said. "But as deeply distressing as this pandemic and economic fallout have been, it is also an opportunity to rebuild the economy better than it was before, making it work for everyone by increasing the availability of fulfilling jobs and leaving no one vulnerable to falling through the cracks."