The Biden administration has overhauled how the federal government assesses the costs and benefits of regulation and some government spending programs, clearing a path for more aggressive efforts to fight climate change and help the poor.
Officials at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a branch of the Office of Management and Budget, finalized a new and complicated set of rules on Thursday.
They would change how federal agencies tally and weigh the potential value and harm of new regulations related to climate change, taxation, the distribution of disaster relief assistance and more.
The federal government has long used so-called benefit-cost analysis when setting regulations that cover business activity, environmental pollution and much more.
Its rules guiding those regulations were last changed during the George W. Bush administration, prompting many economists to complain that officials were not taking updated economic data and cutting-edge research into account when issuing regulations that can have vast consequences immediately and in the future.
Persons:
Biden, George W, Bush
Organizations:
White, Office of Information, Regulatory Affairs, Management, Budget