White House press secretary Jen Psaki in a press briefing Thursday pushed back on criticism of the administration’s heavy use of executive actions, pointing to Biden’s continued work to get his COVID-19 package passed.

Psaki also added that Biden was simply undoing the damaging policies of the Trump administration with his actions.

“In terms of executive actions, he also ran with a commitment to take steps immediately to address the pain and suffering that the American people were feeling," Psaki said. "And that includes overturning some of the detrimental, harmful, and at times immoral policies and actions of the prior administration. But he's the first to tell you, as he said many times publicly, he's not going to take executive action alone. That’s why he's put forward a number of packages that he's actively working with members of both parties to move forward on."

Thursday's actions on health care add to a series of executive moves by Biden in his first week as president, setting an ambitious tone for his administration on a number of policy areas. Since entering office on Jan. 20, Biden has signed more than 30 executive actions addressing the coronavirus pandemic, economy, immigration, climate crisis and more.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

The nation's first second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, made his first solo appearance in his new role in the nation's capital on Thursday afternoon.

Emhoff visited The Farm at Kelly Miller Middle School to meet with representatives of Dreaming Out Loud, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit "focused on food security and economic opportunity."

He shared an elbow bump with the organization's founder, Chris Bradshaw, ahead of a "farm tour" in which both gentlemen donned masks.

Earlier in the day, Emhoff tweeted his designation was now official after Merriam Webster added "Second Gentleman" to their dictionary, and playing off a phrase of his wife's, said, "I might be the first, but I won't be the last."

Emhoff, an attorney, also taught his first entertainment law class Thursday morning at Georgetown Law, where he is a visiting professor.

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.

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

Biden's top coronavirus advisers -- including Chief Medical Adviser on COVID-19 Dr. Anthony Fauci, new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients -- have wrapped their first public briefing on the White House's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In contrast with the Trump administration, the Biden administration has pledged to aim for three virtual, public briefings with health experts each week in an effort to be more transparent in their response. Biden is also branding his COVID-19 response team an "equity" task force, chaired by Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.

In another change promised by the Biden White House, an American Sign Langauge interpreter was also present for the briefing.

After a bit of a rocky start, with Fauci and other speakers having microphone issues, the briefing proceeded for nearly an hour and focused largely on vaccine distribution.
The president's advisers wouldn't entertain questions on what they will do if Congress doesn't give them the money they need -- insisting it is absolutely critical.

Unlike the predictions given by former President Donald Trump, theirs were not rosy, citing death forecasts that could climb past half a million next month and vaccines still in short supply even as the daily numbers of shots have climbed to 1.6 million.

"It will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one," said Andy Slavitt, another Biden adviser. "Any stockpile that may have existed previously, no longer exists."