Burr is the senior senator from North Carolina and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 4, 2005. Burr is next up for reelection in 2022.
He was previously the representative for North Carolina’s 5th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2004.
![Photo of Sen. Richard Burr [R-NC]](/static/legislator-photos/400054-200px.jpeg)
Oversight & Investigations
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Russian Interference in the 2016 Election
In 2018 the House Intelligence Committee concluded there was no Russian interference in the 2016 election. Democrats, now in control of the House Intelligence Committee, believe that the investigation was incomplete. In July 2018 Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the goal of helping Trump. Burr is chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence which will continue investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election into the 116th Congress.
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Burr.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Burr is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Burr has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Sep 19, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Richard Burr sits on the following committees:
- Chair, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
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Senate Committee on Finance
- Member, Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
- Member, Subcommittee on Health Care
- Member, Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
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Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- Member, Subcommittee on Children and Families
- Member, Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
- Member, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
- Senate Special Committee on Aging
Enacted Legislation
Burr was the primary sponsor of 23 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 1379: Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019
- S. 723: A bill to extend the deadline for commencement of construction of a hydroelectric project.
- S. 133: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017
- S. 2854 (114th): Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016
- S. 3055 (114th): Department of Veterans Affairs Dental Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2016
- S. 2055 (114th): Medical Countermeasure Innovation Act of 2016
- S. 1077 (114th): Advancing Breakthrough Devices for Patients Act of 2016
Does 23 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Burr sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (37%) Taxation (14%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (10%) Health (8%) Transportation and Public Works (8%) International Affairs (7%) Education (7%) Government Operations and Politics (7%)
Recent Bills
Some of Burr’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 2495: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish an ...
- S. 2326: New Opportunities for Value that Extend Lives Act of 2019
- S.Res. 271: A resolution designating July 12, 2019, as “Collector Car Appreciation Day” and recognizing ...
- S. 1589: Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years ...
- S. 1563: Janey Ensminger Act of 2019
- S. 1408: Child Care Protection Improvement Act of 2019
- S. 1368: Lumbee Recognition Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Sep 2019, Burr missed 145 of 4,535 roll call votes, which is 3.2%. This is worse than the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
