Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has added an amendment to the defense bill that would expand the Marine Corps Embassy Security Guard program to help increase the number of Marines assigned to diplomatic missions worldwide.

Portman’s amendment directs Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to develop a plan to increase the size of the program by up to 1,000 Marines to meet State Department requirements.

The amendment is a response to Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on U.S. embassies abroad, including the embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

The bill is pending before the Senate and could be voted on as early as next week.

Amendment would make it easier for veterans to transfer college credits

Portman also successfully attached an amendment to the same defense bill that would standardize educational transcripts so that veterans who are trying to go back to college can transfer credits they earned during military training.

Currently, every service member is issued a transcript upon leaving active duty, and the transcript equates military training and instruction to academic credits. Colleges and universities use these transcripts to award transfer credit to veteran students.

But each service offers a different type of transcript, which can cause confusion.

Portman’s amendment will require a report from Panetta on the department’s initiatives to standardize educational transcripts for separating service members.

The bill is pending before the Senate and may be voted on next week.

U.S. Rep. Jordan says he sleeps ‘on my side’

It’s natural to run into critics if you’re a politician, but Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, when challenged during a Twitter town hall with fellow members of the Republican Study Committee last week, reacted to one challenge with aplomb.

When one person on Twitter asked members of the committee: “How do you sleep at night?” Jordan was quick with his response: “Usually on my side w/feather pillow.”

The Republican Study Committee aims to promote a “conservative social and economic agenda,” according to its website.

Brown, Dems want stricter rules on gas emissions

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and 11 other Senate Democrats last week sent a letter to President Barack Obama, urging him to propose rules to cut dangerous emissions from gasoline.

The senators want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to propose rules that would require the pollutant sulfur content in gasoline to be reduced by two thirds, saying that this will “improve human health and stimulate job creation.”

In the letter, the senators wrote that new rules would “substantially reduce harmful pollutants that are responsible for health related ailments such as heart attacks, premature death, asthma attacks and other chronic lung diseases.”

Republicans have tried to stop the issuing of the new rules, saying they would put jobs at risk, raise the price of gasoline, and add costs to refineries.

Compiled by Jessica Wehrman and Ellen Jervell.