Richard Burr, Senator for North Carolina

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 5^th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2004.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2017 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. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Americans for Prosperity: 91% United States Chamber of Commerce: 87% NumbersUSA: 82% FreedomWorks: 76% The Club for Growth: 61% Human Rights Campaign: 32% American Civil Liberties Union: 17% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: D League of Conservation Voters: 8% NIAC Action: F Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 0%

Committee Membership

Richard Burr sits on the following committees:

Chair, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Senate Committee on Finance
- Member, Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
- Member, Subcommittee on Health Care
- Member, Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
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 21 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Burr sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (39%) Taxation (14%) Government Operations and Politics (11%) Education (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Health (7%) International Affairs (7%) Transportation and Public Works (6%)

Recent Bills

Some of Burr’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Burr’s Vote	Vote Description
Yea	H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
Yea	H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act Dec 3, 2015. Conference Report Agreed to 83/16. H.R 22, formerly the Hire More Heroes Act, has become the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act or DRIVE Act (S. 1647). The DRIVE Act is a major bipartisan transportation bill that would authorize funding ...
Nay	H.R. 719: TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2015 Sep 30, 2015. Motion Agreed to 78/20. This was a vote to add to H.R. 719 provisions to keep the government funded through December 11, 2015. With this vote, the Senate approved continued funding levels and sent the revised measure back to the House.
Yea	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 18, 2014. Joint Resolution Passed 78/22.
Yea	S. 1619 (112th): Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011 Oct 11, 2011. Bill Passed 63/35.
Yea	H.R. 4853 (111th): Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 Dec 15, 2010. Motion Agreed to 81/19. The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known as the 2010 Tax Relief Act, was passed by the United States Congress on December 16, 2010, and signed into ...
Nay	H.R. 2419 (110th): Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 Dec 14, 2007. Bill Passed 79/14. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub.L. 110–234, H.R. 2419, 122 Stat. 923, enacted May 22, 2008, also known as the 2008 U.S. Farm Bill) was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress ...
Nay	H.R. 1495 (110th): Water Resources Development Act of 2007 Sep 24, 2007. Conference Report Agreed to 81/12.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to May 2018, Burr missed 116 of 4,069 roll call votes, which is 2.9%. This is worse than the median of 1.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2005 Jan-Mar	81	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Apr-Jun	89	2	2.2%	67^th
2005 Jul-Sep	76	1	1.3%	47^th
2005 Oct-Dec	120	5	4.2%	84^th
2006 Jan-Mar	83	1	1.2%	61^st
2006 Apr-Jun	107	1	0.9%	26^th
2006 Jul-Sep	73	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Nov-Dec	16	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Jan-Mar	126	3	2.4%	70^th
2007 Apr-Jun	112	1	0.9%	39^th
2007 Jul-Sep	119	4	3.4%	83^rd
2007 Oct-Dec	85	3	3.5%	76^th
2008 Jan-Mar	85	3	3.5%	86^th
2008 Apr-Jun	77	3	3.9%	71^st
2008 Jul-Sep	47	2	4.3%	62^nd
2008 Oct-Dec	6	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	118	1	0.8%	59^th
2009 Apr-Jun	96	1	1.0%	45^th
2009 Jul-Sep	89	1	1.1%	56^th
2009 Oct-Dec	94	5	5.3%	92^nd
2010 Jan-Mar	108	3	2.8%	76^th
2010 Apr-Jun	96	1	1.0%	42^nd
2010 Jul-Sep	44	0	0.0%	0^th
2010 Nov-Dec	51	6	11.8%	96^th
2011 Jan-Mar	46	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Apr-Jun	58	3	5.2%	73^rd
2011 Jul-Sep	49	7	14.3%	94^th
2011 Oct-Dec	82	8	9.8%	97^th
2012 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Apr-Jun	109	3	2.8%	81^st
2012 Jul-Sep	28	6	21.4%	94^th
2012 Nov-Dec	50	3	6.0%	80^th
2013 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	92	2	2.2%	83^rd
2013 Apr-Jun	76	2	2.6%	59^th
2013 Jul-Sep	43	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	80	3	3.8%	74^th
2014 Jan-Mar	93	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Apr-Jun	123	10	8.1%	83^rd
2014 Jul-Sep	54	1	1.9%	61^st
2014 Nov-Dec	96	1	1.0%	50^th
2015 Jan-Mar	135	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Apr-Jun	85	1	1.2%	46^th
2015 Jul-Sep	52	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Oct-Dec	67	2	3.0%	75^th
2016 Jan-Mar	38	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Apr-Jun	79	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Jul-Sep	34	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Nov-Dec	12	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	101	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Apr-Jun	54	1	1.9%	62^nd
2017 Jul-Sep	53	9	17.0%	95^th
2017 Oct-Dec	117	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Jan-Mar	63	7	11.1%	93^rd
2018 Apr-May	38	0	0.0%	0^th

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
GPO.gov/FDSys, for sponsored bills

Richard Burr is pronounced:

RI-cherd // ber

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In
B b	bat
CH ch	chin
D d	day
ER er	her
I i	pin
R r	rag

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. Richard Burr

Links

Follow GovTrack on social media for more updates:

On GovTrack Insider:

I have an opinion I want to share.

I need help, have a question, or want to schedule a tour.