The White House says President Barack Obama will sign a chemical safety bill this week that passed the U.S. House and Senate recently.
Obama will sign the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act Wednesday morning.
The new chemical safety rules are designed to overhaul federal regulation covering thousands of chemicals in daily use.
The Wall Street Journal calls the bill a rare bipartisan action in a year when Congress is torn by presidential politics.
Chemical makers, including Dow and DuPont, favored the legislation as retailers, such as Wal-Mart, were stepping in with their own, sometimes far-reaching rules on chemical safety.
The bill is the first significant update to federal chemicals safety law in 40 years.
The legislation gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to evaluate and impose restrictions on chemicals used in everything from dry-cleaning to grease removal to paint thinners.
In most cases, that authority pre-empts states from passing laws to regulate a chemical while the EPA is making its determination.
