75 Facts About Richard Burr

Richard Mauze Burr was born on November 30,1955 and is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from North Carolina from 2005 to 2023.

Richard Burr was first elected to the United States Senate in 2004.

Richard Burr temporarily stepped down as chair of the Intelligence Committee on May 15,2020, amid an FBI investigation into allegations of insider trading during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Richard Burr was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.

Richard Burr was born on November 30,1955, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Martha and Rev David Horace White Richard Burr.

In college, Richard Burr played defensive back for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team.

Richard Burr is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Richard Burr is a member of the board of Brenner Children's Hospital and the West Point Board of Visitors.

In 1992, Burr ran against incumbent Representative Stephen L Neal for the seat in the Winston-Salem-based 5th District and lost.

Richard Burr ran again in 1994 after Neal chose not to seek reelection, and was elected in a landslide year for Republicans.

Richard Burr helped create the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Richard Burr's amendment allowed exports of HEU to five countries for creating medical isotopes.

In July 2004, Burr won the Republican primary to seek the US Senate seat being vacated by John Edwards, who had retired from the Senate to run for vice president with presidential nominee John Kerry in the 2004 election, which they lost to incumbent president George W Bush.

Richard Burr faced Democratic Party nominee Erskine Bowles and Libertarian Tom Bailey.

Richard Burr is the first Republican since Jesse Helms to be reelected to the United States Senate from North Carolina.

Richard Burr broke the "curse" that his seat held, being the first senator reelected to the seat since 1968.

On July 20,2016, during his reelection campaign, Richard Burr announced that, should he win that year's election, he would not seek reelection to a fourth term in 2022.

In 2007, Richard Burr ran for chair of the Senate Republican Conference, but lost to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee by a vote of 31 to 16.

Richard Burr opposes the DISCLOSE Act, which would require political ads include information about who funded the ad.

In fall 2008, during the global financial crisis, Richard Burr said he was going to an ATM every day and taking out cash because he thought the financial system would soon collapse.

In 2009, in response to press about his experience, Richard Burr said that he would do the same thing again next time.

Richard Burr is a signatory of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge vowing to oppose to tax increases for any reason.

Richard Burr opposes raising taxes on businesses or high-income people to fund public services.

In 2013, Richard Burr criticized Senator Ted Cruz and other Republican colleagues for filibustering the passage of the fiscal year 2014 federal budget in an effort to defund the Affordable Care Act.

In March 2015, Richard Burr voted for an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow employees to earn paid sick time.

In 2016, Richard Burr said he supports the privatization of Social Security.

Richard Burr was one of 20 senators to vote against the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, a public land management and conservation bill.

Richard Burr supported renewal of the 1965 Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Richard Burr opposes regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and opposed federal grants or subsidies to encourage the productions of renewable energy.

In 2013, Richard Burr voted for a measure expressing opposition to a federal tax or fee on carbon emissions.

Richard Burr voted in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline.

In 2017, Richard Burr voted to repeal the Stream Protection Rule as well as rules requiring energy companies to reduce waste, reduce emissions, and disclose payments from foreign governments.

Richard Burr has supported the lowering of federal taxes on alternative fuels and the initiation of a hydropower project on the Yadkin River in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

In 2011, Richard Burr voted to abolish the EPA and merge it with the US Department of Energy.

In 2019, Richard Burr was one of nine Republican lawmakers to found the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus, a conservation-focused group of Republican members of Congress.

Richard Burr voted for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Richard Burr supported President Bush's troop surge in Iraq in January 2007, saying that the effort to counter the insurgency would increase "security and stability" in Iraq.

In February 2020, Richard Burr voted against a measure restricting Trump from initiating military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

In 2018 and 2019, Richard Burr opposed legislation to prohibit US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and to end US military assistance to the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.

Richard Burr has a perfect score from the National Rifle Association for NRA-supported legislation, and the NRA has extensively supported Richard Burr's campaigns.

Richard Burr used the same media consultant as the NRA for ads.

In 2013, Richard Burr voted against gun control measures, including extended background checks to internet and gun show weapons purchases and an assault weapons ban.

Richard Burr sponsored legislation to stop the US Department of Veterans Affairs from adding the names of veterans to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System if the department has assigned a financial fiduciary to take care of their finances due to mental incompetence, unless a judge or magistrate deems them to be a danger.

In 2022, Richard Burr later became one of ten Republican Senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which involved a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases.

Richard Burr voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

In 2012, Richard Burr co-sponsored a plan to overhaul Medicare; his bill would have raised the eligibility age from 65 to 67 over time and shifted more seniors to private insurance.

Richard Burr opposed legislation to allow the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco industry, which is economically important in North Carolina, and unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.

In 2018, Richard Burr voted in favor of legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Richard Burr voted to define a pregnancy as carrying an "unborn child" from the moment of conception.

Richard Burr voted to prevent minors who have crossed state lines from getting an abortion, as well as to ensure parents are notified if their child does get an abortion.

Richard Burr voted to extend the federal prohibition on tax dollars being used for abortions by preventing the US Department of Health and Human Services from giving grants to any organization that performs abortions at any of its locations.

Richard Burr opposes the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational use.

Richard Burr stated that there should be greater enforcement of current anti-cannabis federal laws in all states, even when cannabis is legal as a matter of state law.

Richard Burr voted for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, the only Southern Republican senator to do so.

Richard Burr supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but in 2013 said that he believed the law on same-sex marriage should be left to the states.

In 2015, Richard Burr was one of 11 Senate Republicans to vote in favor of allowing same-sex spouses to have access to federal Social Security and veterans' benefits.

Richard Burr voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.

Richard Burr voted against earmarking money to reduce teen pregnancy.

Richard Burr has stated he supports giving employers the right to restrict access to birth control coverage of employees if it is for moral reasons.

In December 2018, Richard Burr was one of 12 Republican senators to vote against the cloture motion on the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform measure altering federal sentencing laws, but ultimately voted for the law.

In 2016, Richard Burr blocked consideration of Patricia Timmons-Goodson's nomination to fill a vacancy on US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina; Obama nominated Timmons-Goodson to fill the seat, which had been vacant for more than 11 years.

Richard Burr has expressed pride at creating the longest federal court bench vacancy in US history by blocking the appointment of a judge Obama nominated.

Richard Burr was a national security adviser to the Trump campaign.

Richard Burr stated that Trump "aligns perfectly" with the Republican Party.

In December 2019, amid an impeachment inquiry into Trump over the Trump-Ukraine scandal, Richard Burr pushed the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.

Richard Burr opposed calling Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton as a witness at the Senate trial; Bolton had written that Trump had tied US security aid to Ukraine to the country's taking action against Biden.

Richard Burr voted to acquit Trump on the two charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.

On February 9,2021, Richard Burr voted against the constitutionality of the trial.

In early February 2020, just before the COVID-19 market crash, Richard Burr sold more than $1.6 million of stock in 33 transactions during a period when, as head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was being briefed daily regarding potential health threats from COVID-19.

Richard Burr was sued by a shareholder for alleged STOCK Act violations.

Richard Burr was one of only three senators to oppose the STOCK Act of 2012, which prohibits members of Congress and congressional staff from using nonpublic information in securities trading.

On May 28,2021, Richard Burr abstained from voting on the creation of an independent commission to investigate the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

Richard Burr has a known aversion to reporters, once even climbing out of his office window while carrying his dry cleaning to avoid them.

Richard Burr has been married to Brooke Fauth Richard Burr, a real estate agent, since 1984, and they have two sons, Tyler and William.

Richard Burr is a distant relative of 19th century vice-president Aaron Burr, as a descendant of one of Aaron Burr's brothers.