State Dept. condemns arrests, repression in Russia

President Biden signed his first executive orders in office Wednesday afternoon.

"I thought with the state of the nation today, there’s no time to waste," Biden said, before initially signing three executive orders addressing the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis and the climate crisis. 

The executive actions included requiring masks on all federal property and interstate travel for 100 days and providing support for underserved communities. 

"We’re going to make sure we have some bedrock equity, equality, as it relates to how we treat people in health care and other things," Biden said. 

He also signed a commitment for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords.

Biden plans to sign dozens of executive orders, presidential memoranda and other official directives in the first days of his administration.

With the swearing in of Sens. John Ossoff, Raphael Warnock and Alex Padilla, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., becomes the new majority leader, replacing Sen. Mitch McConnell, who now becomes minority leader.

Schumer has served as senator from New York for over 22 years, assuming the role as the leader of Senate Democrats in 2017. Before he entered the Senate, the new majority leader represented Brooklyn and Queens in the U.S. House of Representatives.

With the Senate split 50-50, Schumer and McConnell are still working out how they will share power. The senators are negotiating a schedule that will include confirming nominations to executive branch positions, passing legislation to confront the coronavirus and voting on the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

In one of her first official acts as vice president, Harris administered oaths of office to her successor from California and the winners of the Georgia Senate runoff races -- giving the Democrats control of the Senate.

Sen. Alex Padilla, the former California secretary of state nominated to the Senate by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will serve out Harris' vacated term as the state's junior senator.

After winning the contentious Georgia Senate runoff elections on Jan. 5, Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock give Democrats the majority in the Senate as they seek to carry out Biden and Harris' new agenda.

Following the swearing-in of the three senators, it is expected that Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, will be designated as president pro-tempore emeritus and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will be elected as president pro-tempore of the Senate. Later, the body is expected to appoint secretaries for the majority and minority.

With the Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, Harris will likely need to cast tie-breaking votes in the body.

Closing out the inaugural parade, Vice President Kamala Harris -- the first woman, first Black woman and first South Asian American to serve as the country’s second in command -- and husband Doug Emhoff -- the nation’s first second gentlemen -- were escorted in their first walk onto the White House grounds by the Howard University Showtime Marching Band.

As ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega and other reporters shouted questions at Harris as she walked by to enter the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door where the vice president's office is located, she was asked, “What’s your first job?" 

"Walking to work," Harris replied, accompanied on that first walk by Howard's marching band.

Harris, a proud alum of Howard University, is also the first graduate of a historically Black university in the White House.

She made her Howard education a central part of her campaign for president and nodded to her "HBCU brothers and sisters" when accepting Biden's offer to join him on the now-winning ticket.

Later on in the day, Harris will return to Capitol Hill to swear in Sens.-elect Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and her successor, Alex Padilla of California -- triggering Democrats taking the majority in the Senate where Harris will cast tie-breaking votes as Senate president.