VALDOSTA – The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act passed in the U.S. Senate last week and with it will come a multibillion dollar investment in federal and state economies.

The investment will specifically go toward U.S. research and development capacity in an attempt to spur innovation and create jobs.

In a phone interview, Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock told The Valdosta Daily Times how the act will affect Georgia’s economy, saying it will position the state in a place ripe for jobs now and into the future.

It will have a huge impact, he said, as the bill will further support other legislation such as the Clean Commute for Kids Act, a bill reauthorizing the Clean School Bus Program through 2025.

It also authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for up to 60% of the replacement costs of acquiring clean school buses and charging and fueling infrastructure, according to the bill’s description.

Blue Bird Bus Company, which resides in Fort Valley, Ga., is a leader in creating electric school buses. It just officially supported the Clean Commute for Kids Act in April.

“We need to see more of that,” Warnock said. “We also need to build out our electric car battery network so that cars can recharge. We need to modernize the grid.”

There is also the $750 million grant program for historically black colleges & universities and minority serving institutions to build their institutional research capacities.

In South Georgia, Warnock said Savannah State University, Savannah Technical College, Albany State University, Albany Technical College, Bainbridge College and South Georgia Technical College are looking at receiving grant funding.

“(This) creates jobs in the short term in those areas, but also positions the American economy to lead well into the future,” he said.

The other important aspect of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is its bipartisanship, passing 68-32.

It’s almost like a show of momentum on the front of forging a better relationship between Republicans and Democrats. Will partisan behaviors become less frequent? Warnock said he certainly hopes so.

There’s a lot of work to be done on that front but if there’s one thing wanted from everyone, the senator said, it’s cooperation on improving American infrastructure.

“All of us on our way to the Capitol every week, we come across roads that need to be repaired, bridges that are dangerously in disrepair,” Warnock said. “Many of us go back to our states and as we visit parts of (them), like Georgia, where huge swaths of people have no access to broadband or very little access.”

Infrastructure is about the common spaces we share, Warnock said, and as every family needs to take on a home improvement project every so often, America has the same need.

It’s past time we repaired the American living world, he said. This involves improving broadband access, investing in clean energy, creating opportunities for carbon capture, etc.

“That’s what this is about and I think it transcends the petty games of predictable partisan politics,” Warnock said.

America isn’t where it needs to be as far as its overall health is concerned, he said. There are kinks to work on – issues he and the Senate are working on every day, including health care.

Health care provides a floor so workers can be productive, Warnock said, and it’s a human right – something he said he’s stood up for in years past.

“I’m excited we were able to get a provision in the American Rescue Plan (Act) which will help Georgia expand Medicaid,” he said. “The refusal of our state to expand Medicaid is a drag on the Georgia economy, but I’m doing everything I can at the federal level to help us be as productive and as efficient as possible so that prosperity can be shared with ordinary people, especially the workers in our state.”