Signed at 9:43 p.m. while Tom Hanks led a celebration of America from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, an executive order “Modernizing Regulatory Review” could have major impacts on U.S. climate and clean energy policy, HuffPost reports. President Biden’s executive order directs a review of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), an office within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review the way it reviews proposed regulation. [How you got distracted by John Legend and Katy Perry is beyond us. —Ed.]

Under President Biden’s order, the regulatory review process should promote “public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations” — a marked departure from the narrow cost-benefit analyses employed by OIRA since its establishment during the first term of the Regan administration.

That analysis put regulations, including those to protect public health and the environment at a disadvantage “because the benefits are harder to measure,” Stuart Shapiro, a public policy professor at Rutgers University and former OMB staffer, told HuffPost. “I realize what I’m about to say to you sounds absurd,” said James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform. “It has the potential to be the most significant action Biden took on day one.” (HuffPost)