Biographical Information
On January 4, 2005, Richard Burr was sworn-in to serve North Carolina in the United States Senate.
As Senator, Richard Burr will continue to focus on the needs of North Carolina and promote economic growth. Burr serves on four committees in the United States Senate: Energy and Natural Resources; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Indian Affairs, and Veterans Affairs.
Elected to the House of Representatives in 1994, Burr established himself as an effective legislator on health care issues and worked with his colleagues to restore accountability and fiscal discipline to the federal government.
Richard’s first major legislative achievement was passage of H.R. 1411 (S. 830, enacted), the Food and Drug Modernization Act of 1997. The “Burr Bill” made significant improvements to the federal regulation of food, drugs, and medical devices, while cutting through government red tape to bring life-saving medicine to the marketplace.
After graduating from R.J. Reynolds High School and Wake Forest University, both located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Burr began his career far from the halls of Congress. After seventeen years as a businessman with Carswell Distributing, a wholesale commercial products company, he entered public service to reverse the trend of rising taxes and centralized government that burdened North Carolina families and businesses.
Burr currently serves as the state Co-Chairman of the Partnership for a Drug Free North Carolina, and as a Board Member of Brenner Children’s Hospital. He is also an active Board Member of Idealliance, a group of local, academic, and government officials working to expand North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad Research Park.
Senator Burr and his wife, Brooke, have two sons.
Alphabetical Listing of Senators
