During a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) said in 2019 he did not expect any congressional business to be held “hostage” by President Donald Trump for border wall funding.

After commemorating the one-year anniversary of his special election upset win over Republican Roy Moore, Jones was asked to react to remarks Trump made claiming he would be “proud” to shut the government down to get funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The junior Alabama senator explained he could not “imagine” a president being “proud” of shutting the government down to achieve such an end.

“I don’t think it will be for next year,” Jones replied. “He’s holding that hostage for the appropriations bill. He said he’s proud to shut down the government. I cannot imagine any president of the United States would be proud to shut down the government for any reason, much less simply over a wall. He’s getting money for border security. We’ll see how it goes.”

In the coming year, Jones said he didn’t think the wall issue would be as prominent and that he hoped Congress would take up immigration policy.

“I don’t think that’s going to be as big an issue next year,” he added. “Hopefully, we’ll take up immigration reform.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.