Biden wants Congress to take action on gun reform

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met Wednesday morning with the service secretaries, service chiefs and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley to discuss the issue of "extremism" in the military, Defense Department press secretary John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.

Austin has directed a service-wide "stand down," which means each unit in the military will have 60 days to plan a day where they can talk about extremism in the ranks. It's done in a staggered fashion across the military services so as to not affect military operations.

"He wants this stand down to accomplish two things: He wants commands to be able to communicate directly with their men and women on what the Department's expectations are with respect to behavior that buys itself from extremist and white supremacy beliefs," Kirby said. "Number two, he wants them to also listen and try to gain insight from our men and women as well about the scope of the problem from their view, what they're seeing, what they're feeling, how it's affecting them."

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Matt Seyler

It's been two weeks Biden's inauguration and the Senate has so far confirmed six of his Cabinet nominees.

Michael Regan, Biden's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency -- who would be the first African American man to run the EPA, if confirmed -- sat before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for a hearing Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions also considered the nomination of Miguel Cardona for education secretary Wednesday. If the nominees move out of their committees, they'll receive full floor votes.

Earlier in the day, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's nomination for Energy Secretary in a 13-4 vote.

The Senate Commerce Committee also had a 15-minute hearing earlier in the day on the nomination of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as the next commerce secretary and approved her out of the committee in a 21-3 vote. 

Asked about Biden's Cabinet confirmations at Wednesday's press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there has "certainly" been a delay in the confirmation of his nominees, saying, "Some of them were slower-paced than they should have been, early on," and calling out Republicans for so far blocking a hearing for Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland.

-ABC News' and Jack Arnholz, Adia Robinson and Lauren Lantry

White House press secretary Jen Psaki at Wednesday's press briefing outlined Biden’s calls and meetings with Democrats on COVID-19 relief and laid out the large differences between the Democratic and Republican plans.

Psaki stressed that Biden and Democrats want to make this bill “as bipartisan as possible,” but there only seems to be a few real areas for change: Who gets the $1,400 stimulus, funding for small businesses and additional aid for state and local governments.

Asked for a response to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s criticism that state and local districts haven’t spent the money previously provided to them for schools, Psaki said it was “pivotal” that schools receive more funding.

Psaki also pushed back on reports she called "ludicrous" that Biden is more willing to negotiate than members of his White House Staff, saying that was “absolutely not" the case. 

Asked about Biden's Cabinet confirmations, Psaki said there has "certainly" been a delay in the confirmation of his nominees, saying, "Some of them were slower-paced than they should have been, early on," and calling out Republicans for so far blocking a hearing for Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez and Molly Nagle

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led 10 of his Democratic colleagues out of the Oval Office about 90 minutes after the start of their meeting with Biden and made no mention of any potential red lines discussed or whether the group talked about moving forward with the reconciliation process.

Schumer did attempt to underscore unity among Democrats, saying, "We're going to all work together with this president, we are united as one, for a big bold package, working with our Republican friends, when we can."

Unlike Biden, who expressed confidence at the beginning of the meeting that he could win bipartisan support, Schumer has still left the door open to going it alone. 

Schumer also said the portrait of President Franklin Roosevelt that Biden picked for the Oval Office inspired an ambitious mood as it loomed over the meeting.  

"There's universal agreement we must go big and bold," he said.

"We hope our Republican colleagues will join us in that, in that big, bold program that America needs. The vast majority of Republican voters support large parts of the program. We want to do it bipartisan, but we must be strong," Schumer continued. "We cannot dawdle, we cannot delay, we cannot dilute, because the troubles that this nation has, and the opportunities that we can bring them, are so large."

Federal jobless benefits, put in place amid the ongoing pandemic, are set to expire March 14.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky