Burr is the senior senator from North Carolina and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 4, 2005. Burr’s current term ends on Jan 3, 2023.
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)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 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 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 3, 2017 to Dec 5, 2022. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Richard Burr sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Burr was the primary sponsor of 32 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 4535: FDASRA Act of 2022
- S. 2683 (116th): Child Care Protection Improvement Act of 2020
- S. 4762 (116th): A bill to designate the airport traffic control tower located at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, as the “Senator Kay Hagan Airport Traffic Control …
- S. 4742 (116th): CLINICAL TREATMENT Act
- S. 3260 (116th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3703 North Main Street in Farmville, North Carolina, as the “Walter B. Jones, …
- S. 1379 (116th): Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019
- S. 1589 (116th): Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020
Does 32 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 (25%) Health (20%) Taxation (16%) Government Operations and Politics (11%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (11%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) International Affairs (5%) Education (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Burr recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Res. 833: A resolution designating September 24, 2022, through October 2, 2022, as “Blue Star …
- S. 4944: Firewood Banks Act of 2022
- S.J.Res. 61: A joint resolution to provide for the resolution of issues in a railway …
- S. 4568: Renewable Natural Gas Incentive Act of 2022
- S. 4535: FDASRA Act of 2022
- S. 4449: Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act
- S. 4400: College Savings Recovery Act.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Dec 2022, Burr missed 313 of 5,862 roll call votes, which is 5.3%. This is much worse than the median of 2.4% 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
