U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Thursday was named chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee on Armed Services and the chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee on Judiciary.

The official announcement came on the same day that a nationally syndicated columnist, Thomas Sowell, wrote the Alabama senator, known for sticking to his principles, would be an excellent choice for a vice president’s slot on several prospective 2016 tickets.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to chair these two crucial subcommittees,” Alabama’s junior senator said.

“My focus as chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee will include: ensuring a modernized nuclear arsenal, strengthening our ballistic missile defense programs, advancing our space program, producing an American-built rocket engine to end U.S. dependence on Russia’s RD-180, and developing the technology and strategies necessary to deter any aggression, including cyber-attacks, against the United States or her interests.

“America faces a litany of global threats and emerging dangers; it is more important than ever to have the most sophisticated and cost-effective defense programs that deliver the capabilities promised,” he said.

“My focus as chairman of the Immigration subcommittee will be to advance the core interests of the nation and its people. On no issue have special interests had a tighter grip than on the issue of immigration.

“That is why I am renaming the subcommittee ‘Immigration and the National Interest,’ as a declaration to the American people that this subcommittee belongs to them,” Sessions said. “Sen. Vitter, a strong voice for the national interest, will be serving as Republican deputy chairman. The financial and political elite have been controlling this debate for years; this subcommittee will give voice to those whose voice has been shut out: the voice of the dedicated immigration officers who have been blocked from doing their jobs; the voice of the working families whose wages have been reduced by years of record immigration; the voice of the American IT workers who are being replaced with guest workers; the voice of the parents who are worried about their schools and hospitals; and the voice of all Americans who believe we must have a lawful system of immigration they can be proud of and that puts their interests first.

“Our first urgent task in this regard is for the Senate GOP to rally the nation behind an effort to halt the president’s unlawful amnesty,” Sessions said.

In November, the president announced a plan to allow up to four million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years to apply for a program that protects them from deportation and allows those with no criminal record to work legally in the country.

“Additionally, there is a great deal of misinformation about what actions must actually be taken to create a sound immigration system,” Session said. “Our subcommittee will seek to serve all members, and the public, as a hub for the facts, data, statistics, and evidence they can rely upon for honest information.”

Sessions, who was a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama before entering politics, said, “ I became a prosecutor believing that there is a truth, and that a proper analysis of the facts will lead us to that truth. The challenge is large but the task is just, and rests on the solid moral foundation of our citizens’ legitimate demands. I look forward to working with my colleagues towards this end.”

The immigration policy handbook Sessions recently distributed to his Republican colleagues can be downloaded from his website, http://www.sessions.senate.gov.