President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Department of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, met virtually with Black farm organizations and activists on Tuesday, the transition announced.

The meeting comes after his nomination was criticized by many hoping for a more diverse pick and those that hoped Rep. Marcia Fudge, who is now Biden's nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, would be tapped for the role.

Per the transition, the meeting centered on "ensuring fairness and equity for Black farmers as they recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic, providing necessary resources to tackle the ongoing systemic issues they face and expanding access to nutrition for communities across the country." It also touched on the need to address the discrimination Black farmers have faced at the hands of the USDA.

Among the participants in the meeting was Shirley Sherrod, the former head of USDA rural development in Georgia, who was forced out of her job when Vilsack led the department during the Obama administration over a deceptively edited video pushed by right-wing news sites.

Both Vilsack and the White House later apologized for pushing Sherrod out of her job.

-ABC News' John Verhovek

Biden officially announced Tuesday evening that he will nominate Miguel Cardona to be his secretary of education, as reported by ABC News earlier.

"In Miguel Cardona, America will have an experienced and dedicated public school teacher leading the way at the Department of Education -- ensuring that every student is equipped to thrive in the economy of the future, that every educator has the resources they need to do their jobs with dignity and success, and that every school is on track to reopen safely," Biden said in a statement.

Cardona is currently Connecticut's commissioner of education.

-ABC News' John Verhovek

President Donald Trump is now saying he won't sign the COVID-19 relief bill sent for his approval after representatives from the Trump administration worked to get a bill the president was willing to sign.

Trump tweeted Congress should amend the $900 billion stimulus package and send it back to him. In a video, he asks them to amend the $600 direct payments to $2,000 and to get rid of the "wasteful" items before he signs it.

“Send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package. And maybe that administration will be me," the president says in the video.

Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate had debated the relief bill for months along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The secretary had even said the direct $600 payments would be coming to Americans starting next week.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was in Georgia Tuesday hoping to observe the signature match audit underway in Cobb County, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs confirmed to ABC News.

Fuchs said that she didn't allow Meadows to enter the room where this was happening, but allowed him to stand with her in the doorway. She said that when Meadows arrived, the people doing the audit were about to go to lunch anyway, and the supplies and ballot envelopes had been packed away for that.

Still, according to Fuchs, Meadows told her they had "a good meeting" and that whatever information she was able to provide to him, he would report back to President Trump.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on Dec. 14 that Cobb County would conduct this audit, saying there was a "specific allegation" that signature matching wasn't done properly in the June primary. A statistically significant number of absentee envelopes (not every ballot) from both the June and November elections are being looked at as part of this audit. Fuchs said the secretary's office is urging the county to finish by Monday.

-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan and Ben Gittleson.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the leading advocates for government-issued direct payments to Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic, argued Sunday that despite his -- and President Donald Trump's last-minute -- reservations about the size of the checks within the currently stalled relief bill, it needs to be signed immediately.

"My view is that, given the terrible economic crisis facing this country, yes, we do need to get $2,000 out to every working-class individual in this country, $500 for their kids -- but you can't diddle around with the bill," Sanders, I-Vt., told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl on "This Week" Sunday.

Though the relief package, as passed last week by Congress, contains checks for $1,400 less than the senator -- and later, Trump -- lobbied for, Sanders proposed an alternative solution in a directive to the White House.

"Sign the bill, Mr. President, and then immediately -- Monday, Tuesday -- we can pass a $2,000 direct payment for the working families of this country," Sanders said.

-ABC News' Adam Kelsey