Pam Fessler
Pam Fessler is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting issues.
In her reporting at NPR, Fessler does stories on homelessness, hunger, affordable housing, and income inequality. She reports on what non-profit groups, the government, and others are doing to reduce poverty and how those efforts are working. Her poverty reporting was recognized with a 2011 First Place National Headliner Award.
Fessler also covers elections and voting, including efforts to make voting more accessible, accurate, and secure. She has done countless stories on everything from the debate over state voter identification laws to Russian hacking attempts and long lines at the polls.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Fessler became NPR's first Homeland Security correspondent. For seven years, she reported on efforts to tighten security at ports, airports, and borders, and the debate over the impact on privacy and civil rights. She also reported on the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, The 9/11 Commission Report, Social Security, and the Census. Fessler was one of NPR's White House reporters during the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Before becoming a correspondent, Fessler was the acting senior editor on the Washington Desk and NPR's chief election editor. She coordinated all network coverage of the presidential, congressional, and state elections in 1996 and 1998. In her more than 25 years at NPR, Fessler has also been deputy Washington Desk editor and Midwest National Desk editor.
Earlier in her career, she was a senior writer at Congressional Quarterly magazine. Fessler worked there for 13 years as both a reporter and editor, covering tax, budget, and other news. She also worked as a budget specialist at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and was a reporter at The Record newspaper in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Fessler has a master's of public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from Douglass College in New Jersey.
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The federal government plans to release $5 billion in new housing vouchers to help those at risk of homelessness. Low-income tenants often struggle to find landlords who will accept such vouchers. -
The annual homeless count by the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows an increase in people living outside. The 2020 numbers in the report do not reflect the impact of the pandemic. -
"Black individuals make up about 21% of all renters, but they make up 35% of all defendants on eviction cases," says Peter Hepburn, a researcher for Princeton University's Eviction Lab. -
In his first interview out of office, Matthew Masterson, a top deputy to Christopher Krebs at the Department of Homeland Security, called 2020 "as smooth a presidential election as I've ever seen." -
Tens of thousands of ballots have been rejected in key battleground states, where the outcome in November for the presidency and other races could be determined by a small number of votes. -
It is not clear why the invitation has not been accepted, but those familiar with the exchange say the delay is unusual, considering that absentee ballots will go in the mail as soon as September. -
Secretaries of state and election officials are meeting in Washington on the brink of a significant test of the nation's elections expected in the coming presidential campaign. -
The Trump administration has finalized a rule to limit food stamp benefits for single able-bodied adults who can't show that they work more than 20 hours a week, though legal challenges are possible. -
The Trump administration says it wants to close a "loophole" that allows states to give benefits to those who would not otherwise be eligible by raising or eliminating income and asset limits. -
Under the rule, officials would weigh whether a green card applicant will be self-sufficient. The rule had been set to go into effect on Oct. 15. It's now blocked by three preliminary injunctions.
