The State Department has confirmed that Rob Malley will return as the Biden administration’s Special Envoy for Iran. Malley served in the Obama and Clinton administrations, including as a key architect of Obama's 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

That's exactly why some GOP members advocated against his appointment, which 12 former Iranian hostages and human rights activists said "would send a chilling signal to the dictatorship in Iran that the United States is solely focused on re-entering the Iran nuclear deal and ignoring its regional terror and domestic crimes against humanity."

The State Department is pushing back on that, saying Malley will lead "a dedicated team, drawing from clear-eyed experts with a diversity of views," and bring "a track record of success negotiating constraints on Iran's nuclear program," according to spokesperson Ned Price.

-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan

During brief remarks Friday, Biden shared his first reaction to news of Johnson & Johnson’s new COVID-19 vaccine.

“I’m waiting to hear from my team on the details,” the president said. “I saw it was reported on the news this morning.”

“I haven't had a chance to speak with Dr. Fauci,” he added.

His comments came after a meeting to discuss the economy with his Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Biden claimed that economists left, right, and center agree this is a unique moment in the crisis as he touted his economic rescue package.

"The cost of inaction is high, and it's growing every day," Biden said. "The choice couldn't be clearer. We have learned from past crises, the risk is not doing too much. The risk is not doing enough."

The president emphasized that his plan will actually grow the economy -- in apparent response to GOP arguments that the minimum wage increases could hurt small businesses or that increasing the national debt could hamper the economy in the future.

"Let's get this straight -- it's not only that people will be badly, badly hurt if we don't pass this package, not only in terms of increased death, in terms of poverty, a whole range of things. But, we will also be hurt long-term economically,” he said. “We need to make these investments so the economy can grow the remainder of this year and next year.”

Yellen added what is becoming a common refrain for her, saying that, “The price of doing nothing is much higher than the price of doing something, and doing something big.”

“The benefits of acting big will far outweigh the costs in the long run," Yellen added.

-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Friday that Biden is planning to launch a task force dedicated to migrant family reunification on Tuesday, which will be led by incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Psaki blamed the delay of Biden’s planned immigration actions from late this week to early next week on Senate Republicans’ efforts to block Mayorkas’s confirmation.

“We had planned to do it this week because we had hoped that Ali Mayorkas would be confirmed by the end of this, but because of the filibuster of his nomination, we expect him to be confirmed on Monday evening and the president will sign it on Tuesday and then secretary Mayorkas will be overseeing that moving forward,” Psaki said during her press briefing Friday.

In addition, Psaki confirmed reports that First Lady Jill Biden will be personally involved in the family reunification efforts.

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki shared Biden’s reaction to headlines this morning that Johnson & Johnson said its vaccine is 85% effective against severe COVID-19 disease.

“The president is encouraged by positive data on a potential new vaccine,” Psaki said. "He also knows that this is just new data and now is the time for the FDA to do its job of evaluating the safety and efficacy of the vaccine."

In the wide-ranging briefing, Psaki also took multiple questions about the controversy surrounding GameStop stock that upended Wall Street and drew swift reactions from lawmakers this week.

“I know the SEC issued a new statement earlier this morning,” she said. “I’d certainly point you to that and others to that.”

“We of course respect the role of regulatory agencies, they are closely monitoring the situation, but it’s under their purview at this point in time,” she added.

Psaki distanced the White House from the saga, adding, that “part of our education can be conveying to people that the SEC is the regulatory body that would oversee this and can speak to it further.”