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 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
He was previously the representative for North Carolina’s 5th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2004.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In March 2020, Sen. Burr was accused of covid19 stock profiteering by selling stocks based on information learned in non-public briefings. On March 20, Sen. Burr asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to open an investigation into his actions. There is no indication that the Committee has acted on his request. On March 30, news reports indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) were investigating Sen. Burr. On May 14, Sen. Burr stepped down as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee after it was reported that the FBI had seized his mobile phone.
| Mar. 17, 2020 | Sen. Burr asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to open an investigation into his actions. |
| Mar. 30, 2020 | Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) began an investigation |
| May. 13, 2020 | The FBI seized Sen. Burr's mobile phone. |
| May. 14, 2020 | Sen. Burr stepped down as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. |
![Photo of Sen. Richard Burr [R-NC]](/static/legislator-photos/400054-200px.jpeg)
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 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 Jan 19, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Burr was the primary sponsor of 30 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 2683 (116th): Child Care Protection Improvement Act of 2020
- S. 4762: 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 Tower”.
- S. 3260: 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, Jr. ...
- 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. 1408: Child Care Protection Improvement Act of 2019
- S. 938: Intercountry Adoption Information Act of 2019
Does 30 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 (35%) Taxation (18%) Transportation and Public Works (10%) Government Operations and Politics (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) International Affairs (8%) Health (7%) Education (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Burr’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 4762: A bill to designate the airport traffic control tower located at Piedmont Triad ...
- S. 4742: CLINICAL TREATMENT Act
- S. 4593: Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2020
- S. 4356: Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Reauthorization Act of 2020
- S. 4109: CRITICAL Act
- S. 3675: Intelligence Community Workforce Agility Protection Act of 2020
- S. 3404: VALID Act of 2020
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Jan 2021, Burr missed 213 of 4,965 roll call votes, which is 4.3%. This is much 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
