Richard Burr

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Richard Burr
Junior Senator from North Carolina
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2005 Serving with Elizabeth Dole
Preceded by	John Edwards
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th district
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Stephen L. Neal
Succeeded by	Virginia Foxx
Born	November 30, 1955 (1955-11-30) (age 52) Charlottesville, Virginia
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Brooke F. Burr
Residence	Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Alma mater	Wake Forest University
Occupation	sales executive
Religion	Methodist

Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is a United States Senator from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A Republican, Burr represented North Carolina's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for five terms, and was elected to represent North Carolina as a U.S. Senator in the 2004 election. He defeated the Democratic Party nominee, former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, in the open seat contest.

[edit] Background

Burr was born in Charlottesville, Virginia to Martha Gillum and Rev. David Horace Burr, a prominent minister.^[1] He graduated from Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. in 1974 and earned a B.A. from Wake Forest University in 1978. Burr was on the school football team at both Reynolds High School and Wake Forest. He is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Prior to running for Congress, Burr worked for 17 years as a sales manager for Carswell Distributing Company, a distributor of lawn equipment.^[2] Burr is currently a board member of Brenner Children's Hospital, as well as of the group Idealliance - a group of local, academic, and government officials working to expand North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad Research Park, which involves bio-hazard and chemical, vaccines research.^[3]

In 1984, Burr married Brooke Fauth; the couple had two sons.

Burr is a twelfth cousin of Aaron Burr. He is the first Burr in the Senate -- and only the second person with his last name to win election to Congress (the first being the presumably unrelated Albert G. Burr) -- since Aaron.^{[4] [5]}

[edit] House career

In 1992, Burr ran against incumbent Democratic Representative Stephen L. Neal and lost. He ran again in 1994 after Neal chose not to seek re-election, and was elected to Congress during a landslide year for Republicans. He ran on a platform that advocated accountability for the federal government, lower health care costs, economic development, and strong school systems[2]. Burr was elected to the legislature by increasingly larger margins during his term in the House, especially because of growing Republican trends within his district.

[edit] Senate career

In July 2004, Burr won the Republican primary to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat John Edwards to become the Vice Presidential nominee for John Kerry. He faced Democratic party nominee Erskine Bowles and Libertarian Tom Bailey.

Burr won the election by five percentage points. Bowles's and Burr's combined campaign expenditures totaled over $26 million, making it one of the most expensive Senate races in the country. Burr raised more money from political action committees, $2.8 million, than any other Senate candidate in 2004, primarily from the business community. Of the 100 largest companies in America, at least 72 contributed to Burr. Those included the PACs for such corporations as Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Ford, General Electric and ChevronTexaco[3].

Burr has strongly supported the policies of the Bush administration, publicly saying that President Bush "is right 96% of the time."^[6] Like Bush, Burr is pro-life, supports the death penalty, and favors a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In May 2007, he was one of fourteen Senators to vote against the Iraq War funding bill despite his strong support of the war, due to his opposition to the clauses of the bill that provide for an increase in domestic spending and assistance. ^[7] On June 26, 2007, Burr voted in favor of cloture for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. Two days later he voted against cloture.^[8]) (S. 1639)^[9].

A November 1, 2007 poll has his approval rating at 30% with 34% disapproving. ^[10]

According to www.congress.org, in 2007 Burr was the 86^th most powerful Senator out of 100 (37^th among Senate Republicans).^[11]

In 2007, Burr ran for the leadership post of Republican Conference chairman ^[12] but lost to Sen. Lamar Alexander by a vote of 31 to 16. ^[13]

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Committee on Veterans' Affairs (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on National Parks (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
  • Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Indian Affairs
• Select Committee on Intelligence
• Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

[edit] Endorsements

Sen. Burr endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), for the 2008 Presidential Election, stating his confidence in McCain's leadership and style of governing.^[14]

[edit] National Uniformity for Food Act

During the 108th Congress, Burr proposed the National Uniformity for Food Act, a controversial measure designed to limit warning labels on consumables and health and beauty products. Burr's bill would have banned states from forcing manufacturers to include labels other than those that are required by the FDA.[4]. Consumers groups opposed the bill, since it would have lowered safety regulations that are more stringent in certain states.[5] A similar bill passed the House, but it died in the more politically balanced Senate.

[edit] Bioshield Two

Burr is the sponsor of Senate bill 1873, the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005, nicknamed "Bioshield Two", which he says will give the Department of Health and Human Services "additional authority and resources to partner with the private sector to rapidly develop drugs and vaccines." Critics have stated that this bill would eliminate current regulatory and legal safeguards applied to vaccines. In addition, they state the bill is being pushed through Congress without giving voters the chance to make their objections known to their elected officials.^[15] Portions of Senate Bill 1873 were eventually included in Senate Bill 3678 (the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act^[16]), which was signed into law in December 2006.

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• United States Senator Richard Burr, U.S. Senate site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Inside.Pisd Biography and Blog on Inside.pisd
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Richard Burr profile
• Burr for Senate, Campaign site

v • d • e United States Senators from North Carolina Class 2: Johnston • Martin • Franklin • Turner • Stokes • Branch • Brown • Mangum • Reid • Bragg • Abbott • Ransom • Butler • Simmons • Bailey • Umstead • Broughton • F. Graham • Smith • Lennon • Scott • Jordan • Helms • Dole Class 3: Hawkins • Bloodworth • Stone • Franklin • Stone • Locke • Macon • Iredell • Mangum • Strange • W. Graham • Haywood • Badger • Biggs • Clingman • Pool • Merrimon • Vance • Jarvis • Pritchard • Overman • Morrison • Reynolds • Hoey • Ervin • Morgan • East • Broyhill • Sanford • Faircloth • Edwards • Burr