Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has been fairly quiet of late – what with the junior senator from Texas sucking all the air out of the room.  But Cornyn (whom Red has taken to task in the past) is actually serious at times about his work as a senator representing not only Texas but the best interests of the nation.  Red speculates that watching Ted Cruz bloviate and bluster his way to national prominence has not set well with our silver-haired senior senator.  Cornyn appears determined to forge his own path to consolidating the considerable power he holds as the No. 2 “man” in the Senate and trying to get legislation passed – something that interests Sr. Cruz not at all.

In that light, Cornyn has taken on the considerable task of federal criminal justice reform by pushing a bill out of the Judiciary Committee that, among other things, would give federal judges more leeway in sentencing, end mandatory life sentences for three-time losers convicted of non-violent crimes, and establish programs to ease released prisoners back into society.

Cornyn faces opposition from other Republicans.  Cruz himself is opposed and as usual misrepresents what the proposed legislation would actually do.  “I don’t think what the justice system needs is additional leniency for violent criminals,” Cruz complains having apparently not bothered to actually read the bill.

For the full story on Cornyn’s efforts check out Mary Clare Jalonick of the AP.