Richard Burr (R-N.C.)

U.S. Senator (since January 2005)

(Congress Bio Database)

Why He Matters

After 10 years in the U.S. House, Burr was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 after defeating Democrat Erskine Bowles in a race for John Edwards' (D-N.C.) vacated Senate seat. Burr became the state's senior senator four years later after now Sen.-Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) defeated then-incumbent Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.).

Burr is making a quick climb up the party's power structure and became the Senate GOP chief deputy whip in the 111th Congress. In May 2008, he was mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: U.S. House (1994 to 2004); National Sales Manager, Carswell Distributing (1978 to 1994)
Birthday: November 30, 1955
Hometown: Charlottesville, Va.
Alma Mater: Wake Forest, B.A., 1978
Spouse: Brooke Burr
Religion: Methodist
Committees: Energy and Natural Resources ; Health, Education, Labor & Pensions ; Indian Affairs ; Intelligence (Select); Veterans' Affairs
DC Office: 217 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, (202) 224-3154

State Offices: Asheville, 828-350-2437; Rocky Mount, 252-977-9522; Winston-Salem, 800-685-8916; Gastonia, 704-833-0854; Wilmington, 888-848-1833
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Path to Power

Born in Charlottesville, Va., Burr and his family moved to Winston-Salem, N.C., when he was a young child. He grew up the son of a Presbyterian minister and attended R.J. Reynolds High School before going to Wake Forest University.

He was a football star there and graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in communications.

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After college, Burr went to work for local company Carswell Distributing, where he started out selling microwaves. When he left Carswell in the early 1990s to enter politics he was the national sales manager.

Political Debut

Burr's first campaign, in 1992 was against U.S. Rep. Steve Neal (D-N.C.), who had been in office since 1974. Burr was outspent three-to-one and lost by 7 percent of the vote, 53 percent to 46 percent. Two years later Neal retired and Burr ran again, this time winning with 57 percent of the vote.

Once in the House, Burr established health-care as one of his priorities. His first health-care cause was streamlining the Federal Drug Administration's drug-and-medical-device approval process, which he claimed kept life-saving products from the patients who needed them. From his seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the FDA, Burr helped draft the FDA Modernization Act, which strengthened the agency's regulation of food, medical products and cosmetics. After years of wrangling, the act became law in 1997.

Burr also became a reliable supporter of North Carolina causes, as evidenced by his opposition to FDA regulation of tobacco.

Higher Ambitions

Burr had promised his constituents to serve no more than five House terms. He saw an opportunity to run for Senate in 2002 when long-time incumbent Jesse Helms (R) would turn 80. But Burr deferred to Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) when it became clear that the former secretary of transportation, secretary of labor and president of the American Red Cross was the White House's preferred candidate. Dole won the election.

Burr Vs. Bowles

In 2004, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) was up for reelection. With the support of the White House, Burr planned a challenge to the one-term Democrat and easily won the Republican primary. But his opponent in the general election was Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles (D) because Edwards had retired to run for president.

Bowles, an investment banker from a prominent North Carolina family, launched ads against Burr six months before the election. Burr didn't run ads until September 2004, hoping to match Bowles' last-minute spending. Burr spent $12.7 million and Bowles $13.2 million, making this the third most expensive 2004 senatorial campaign.

A large portion of Burr's money, $2.8 million, came from PACs, which gave the Republican more campaign cash than any other 2004 Senate candidate. Bowles harped on this point, characterizing Burr as a fighter for special interests and big business. During the campaign, a government tobacco buyout became an important issue. While both candidates supported the buyout in principle, Burr opposed FDA regulation of the tobacco industry to which the buyout was tied. Bowles accused Burr of going along with the wishes of large tobacco companies, which also opposed FDA regulation. The version of the buyout that eventually became law didn't include FDA regulation, thanks, in part, to Burr's efforts in conference committee.

Burr ultimately bear Bowles, 52 to 47 percent. His campaign was bolstered by visits to North Carolina by some of the country's most prominent Republicans (President Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist).

In 2007, Burr made his first attempt at joining party leadership when he ran against Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) for the chairmanship of the Senate Republican Conference. Burr advocated a more confrontational approach by the minority while the Tennessee senator promised more outreach to independent voters Alexander won the election.

In January 2009, Burr was named chief deputy whip for GOP Majority Whip Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

The Issues

Burr is an anti-abortion rights conservative Republican who supports the death penalty and favors a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In the 110th Congress he voted with his party 89 percent of the time.

During the Bush administration, Burr showed a willingness to oppose the White House and joined with the majority of Senate Republicans in opposing the president's proposed immigration overhaul in 2006. Burr also opposed the Senate compromise on the immigration bill in June 2007. But he supported President Bush on some larger issues, including the 2007 troop surge in Iraq.

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A member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Burr advocates the adoption of alternative energy sources (biofuels, wind, solar, wave, nuclear and geothermal) to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. He is also in favor of increasing domestic exploration for oil.

In the Senate, Burr said he would take the same approach to remaking the National Institutes of Health that he had taken with the FDA in the 1990s. He set out to evaluate the NIH to see if the research money flowing through it was being used effectively. He also focused on bioterrorism, and wrote the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. The 2006 law created the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an office charged with developing vaccines to combat bioterrorism.

The Economy

In October 2008, Burr voted in favor of the government's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. He warned that an economic downturn rivaling the Great Depression could be on its way if no action was taken and blamed "greedy behavior" for the credit crisis. "Much of what got us to this point was not only reckless behavior on Wall Street, but also the fact that many people took out risky mortgages that they simply could never afford," he said.

In early February 2009, after every House Republican voted against President Obama's economic stimulus bill, Americans United for Change, an outside group, released an ad in Burr's district urging him to support the package. But Burr opposed it. "This isn't a stimulus package, this is a spending package," he said on Fox News.

Burr says the key to fixing the economic crisis is shoring up the housing market. He suggests guaranteed, low-interest, fixed rate mortgages that will keep homeowners in their homes and convince new buyers to jump into the market.

Health Care

Burr has committed much of his time in politics to changing the government's role in public health and the health-care system in general. While in the House he worked to streamline the FDA's drug-and-medical-device approval process. In the Senate, he began efforts to evaluate the efficacy of the NIH and help bring it funding. He broke with the Bush White House to support using frozen-embryos from fertility-clinics in stem-cell research.

According to his former colleague, former Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) who was the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and then PhRMA, Burr also played an instrumental role in the passage of the Medicare reform bill in 2003.

Burr believes in making health care accessible to all Americans, but he doesn't support a single-payer system. "We need to give people the means to purchase their own health insurance that fits their needs and the needs of their families." He introduced the Every American Insured Health Act, which called for refundable tax credits for those who purchase health care- $2,160 for individuals and $5,400 for families. The bill died in committee.

The Network

Burr supported Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential election. He campaigned around the country with the Arizona senator and when asked if he would join McCain as vice president, were McCain to ask, Burr said that he would.

In the lead-up to the 2004 election, Burr received an endorsement from legendary North Carolina politician Jesse Helms. "North Carolina needs him in the United States Senate. The country needs him. And the president needs him-and he told me so," Helms said of Burr.

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