The Senate has confirmed Tom Vilsack to serve as secretary of agriculture, in a 92-7 vote.

Sen. Bernie Sanders voted with six Republicans against Vilsack, who had the same role under former President Barack Obama.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel

A spokesperson for Republican Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed reports to ABC News that McConnell intends to support the nomination of Merrick Garland to serve as attorney general.

McConnell's support for Garland was first reported by Politico.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday wrapped up two days of hearings on Garland's nomination. The committee is scheduled to hold a vote on the nomination on March 1.

McConnell's support for Garland is in stark contrast to his 2016 efforts that successfully kept Garland from the Supreme Court bench.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doubled down on his position that the COVID-19 proposal from Democrats is far too large, not targeted enough and flies in the face of bipartisanship during a press conference Tuesday.

"We think this is dramatically more money than is required at this particular juncture. It also includes a number of things that have absolutely nothing to do with COVID relief," McConnel said. "And so it will be controversial."

McConnell said his conference is united Tuesday in "opposition to what the Biden administration is trying to do," arguing that Biden, who campaigned as a moderate, has been pushing far-left policies since his administration began, calling Biden's "a totally partisan approach to COVID relief."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Biden on Tuesday announced Kiran Ahuja as his nominee for director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, where she previously served as chief of staff during the Obama administration.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

One hundred and sixty chief executive officers sent an open letter to congressional leadership Wednesday, urging lawmakers to pass "immediate and large-scale federal legislation to address the health and economic crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic" on a bipartisan basis.

The letter asks Congress to "to authorize a stimulus and relief package along the lines of the Biden-Harris administration’s proposed American Rescue Plan," perhaps leaving some room for negotiation on what the final package will look like. But the letter makes clear that major business CEOs, including the heads of Morgan Stanley, Visa, United Airlines, BlackRock, Comcast and Google are pushing for relief on the scale of Biden's plan.

"The American Rescue Plan provides a framework for coordinated public-private efforts to overcome COVID-19 and to move forward with a new era of inclusive growth. The country’s business community is prepared to work with you to achieve these critical objectives," the letter says.

Just Tuesday, though, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, one of the few Senate Republicans who has shown willingness to buck his party, criticized the $1.9 trillion bill in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

"The $1.9 trillion bill is a clunker. It would waste hundreds of billions of dollars, do nothing meaningful to get kids back to school, and enact policies that work against job creation. The Congressional Budget Office’s recent analysis of the plan found that more than a third of the proposed funding—$700 billion—wouldn’t be spent until 2022 or later, undermining the administration’s claim that the massive price tag is justified for urgent pandemic-related needs," Romney wrote.

Whether the pressure from big business will sway any Republicans in the Senate remains to be seen, but Wednesday morning's messaging from GOP lawmakers is pretty clear: They have no intentions of budging.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky