Sen. Richard Burr

Oversight & Investigations

• 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 2019 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 Feb 13, 2020. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Richard Burr sits on the following committees:

• Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair
• Senate Committee on Finance
  Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure, Health Care, Taxation and IRS Oversight subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  Children and Families, Employment and Workplace Safety, Primary Health and Retirement Security subcommittees
• Senate Special Committee on Aging

Enacted Legislation

Burr was the primary sponsor of 25 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 1379: Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019
• S. 1589: Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020
• S. 245: Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018 and 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

View All »

Does 25 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Burr sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (37%) Taxation (15%) Government Operations and Politics (9%) Health (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%) Transportation and Public Works (9%) Education (7%) International Affairs (6%)

Recent Bills

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

• S. 3260: A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located ...
• S. 2939: Protecting Against International Terrorism Act of 2019
• S.Res. 390: A resolution honoring the life, accomplishments, and legacy of Senator Kay Hagan.
• S. 2683: Child Care Protection Improvement Act of 2019
• S.Res. 369: A resolution recognizing the contributions of the Montagnard indigenous tribespeople of the Central ...
• S. 2602: RPM Act of 2019
• S. 2544: Hurricanes Florence and Michael and California Wildfire Tax Relief Act

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to Feb 2020, Burr missed 167 of 4,722 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. 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.

Show the numbers...

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