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ByMatthewDaly The Associated Press WASHINGTON The White House and top House Dem- ocrats said Monday they will support a bipartisan bill to overhaul regulation of asbestos and other dan- gerous chemicals, clearing the way for the bill's pas- sage in Congress and sig- nature by President Barack Obama. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and two other high-ranking Democrats said they re- main concerned that the bill limits states' ability to act aggressively on toxic substances. But changes made by Democrats in recent days ensure the measure will protect families and com- munities from toxic sub- stances, Pelosi said in a statement with House Dem- ocratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the senior Democrat on the House Energy and Com- merce Committee. Hours later, the White House said it strongly sup- ports the legislation, which would be the first overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act since it was ap- proved in 1976. A vote is ex- pected in the House as soon as Tuesday. "The bill is a clear im- provement over the current TSCA and represents a his- toric advancement for both chemical safety and envi- ronmental law," the White House said in a statement. The proposal will re- quire the Environmental Protection Agency to evalu- ate new and existing chemi- calsagainstanewrisk-based safetystandardthatincludes considerations for vulnera- ble people such as children and pregnant women, the White House said. The bill also establishes clear and enforceable dead- lines for the EPA to act; in- creases transparency of chemical information by limiting unwarranted claims of confidentiality by chemical companies; and provides funding for the EPA to carry out "these significant new responsibil- ities," the White House said. Pallone had said last week he opposed an agree- ment reached by House and Senate negotiators, saying it was "weaker than current law." Pallone said he was especially concerned about provisions in the bill con- cerning state regulation of toxic chemicals. New Jersey and other liberal-leaning states such as California, Massachu- setts and Vermont have moved aggressively to reg- ulate chemicals, and Pal- lone and other critics feared the federal bill could block state efforts even as it im- posed the first-ever national standards for tens of thou- sands of chemicals, includ- ing formaldehyde and sty- rene, that are used in homes and businesses every day. A proposal announced last week declares that any state law or rule in place be- fore April 22 would not be pre-empted by federal law. The proposal also would al- low states to work on some regulations while federal rules are being developed, a process that can take years. WASHINGTON White House backs bill to overhaul chemical regulation By Michael Biesecker The Associated Press WASHINGTON FBI agents probing whether Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server imperiled government secrets appear close to completing their work, a process experts say will probably culminate in a sit-down with the former secretary of state. The FBI has already spo- ken with Huma Abedin, a Clinton confidant who was among the Democratic presidential front runner's closest aides at the State Department. Former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills is also cooperating with the investigation, according to her lawyer. That signals that agents will probably seek to inter- view Clinton soon, if they haven't already, former Jus- tice Department officials told The Associated Press. The FBI's standard prac- tice is to save questioning the person at the center of an investigation for last, once it has gathered avail- able facts from others. "With a person like Sec- retary Clinton, the FBI probably assumes they are going to get one chance to interview her, not only be- cause she is a prominent person but because she is very busy right now with the presidential campaign," said David Deitch, a former Justice Department prose- cutor. "It makes sense they would defer interviewing her until late in their in- vestigation." Clinton has good reasons to want the FBI to close its investigation soon. She has been dogged by questions about her email practices for more than a year, since AP revealed that the clinto- nemail.com server was in the basement of Clinton's New York home while she served as the nation's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013. Clinton has acknowl- edged in the campaign that her homebrew email setup was a mistake, but said she never sent or received any- thing marked classified at the time. FBI Director James Comey said this month he is keeping close tabs on the in- vestigationtoensureit'scon- ducted properly and com- pleted promptly. However, headdedthereisnotimeline forcompletingtheprobetied to events on the political cal- endar,suchasthe2016Dem- ocratic National Convention in late July. In addition to the FBI investigation, inspectors general at the State De- partment and the U.S. in- telligence community are reviewing whether secu- rity procedures or laws were broken. 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