During a media call Thursday with members of the Alabama press, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, exuded confidence about his upcoming reelection campaign, despite a growing field of Republican contenders.

“I think everything we’re doing is right in line with what the people of Alabama both need and want and so I feel very good about it,” Jones said. “I’ll let the other side figure out what they want to do, how they want to try to find somebody to run against me. We’re just going to continue to do what we do and we don’t do it with a political eye, we do it with what’s best for the people of Alabama.”

Jones cited his recent work on the Senate Armed Services Committee to include Alabama priorities in a recent military spending bill, which will bring millions of dollars to the state, as well as his work fighting for rural hospitals, as indicators of his campaign’s commitment to issues important to Alabamians.

At the start of the media call, Jones took a few minutes to acknowledge D-Day commemorations taking place around the world, noting that he watched U.S. President Donald Trump deliver remarks in Normandy.

“I think we often take for granted all that happened in World War II, particularly in Normandy,” Jones said.

Jones also expressed enthusiasm over the recently-passed bill to provide disaster relief funds to struggling communities across the nation, including in Lee County and the Wiregrass region in Alabama.

The original bill was doomed from the start, Jones said, due to Trump’s insistence that it include funding for construction of a wall along the Southern border.

Once the bill was reintroduced, it struggled to clear both chambers of Congress over squabbles surrounding the level of funding being earmarked for Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from the devastation brought on by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

“The thing that really bothers me most is how many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle really played some partisan politics with this while people across the country, whether it was farmers or whether it was folks in Lee County or people who had suffered wildfires, while they suffered just waiting for Congress to do its job,” Jones said, noting that passage of the bill took “far too long.”

With passage of the bill by both the House and Senate, Jones is glad that victims of natural disasters can now “breathe a sigh of relief.”

With hurricane season beginning, Jones has introduced two bills aimed at helping people prepare for future natural disasters – the first establishes a grant program of up to $100 million to improve emergency evacuation routes in small and rural communities; the second creates a one-time refundable tax credit of $2,500 for homeowners to construct storm shelters on their property.

“Alabamians know all too well that extreme weather can strike at any time,” Jones said.

The senator also voiced his opposition to Trump’s proposal to slap new tariffs on Mexican imports and applauded the fact that some Republicans are speaking up in opposition to the move as well.

Jones said the new tariffs, if enacted, would be devastating to the nation and Alabama, noting that Mexico is Alabama’s third largest importer and a 5-percent tariff would essentially impose a $17 billion tax on Americans.

“I am really glad to see that my colleagues on the other side of the political aisle are starting to speak up,” Jones said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s enough votes in the Senate to override a veto this time.”

While Jones agreed that there are issues on the border that must be addressed, he believes there are more diplomatic methods that could be employed in achieving that goal.