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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Congress approved $25 billion in emergency rental assistance to keep people housed during the pandemic. States are struggling to get the money out to those who need it.
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"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. -
The annual street survey of homeless people is being delayed or put off completely in some parts of the U.S. during the pandemic, even as the country's unsheltered population appears to be growing. -
More than two weeks after the election, President Trump still refuses to concede. And now his legal team is alleging an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that Democrats stole the election.
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An unprecedented number of Americans have already cast their ballots in the 2020 election. But legal fights and other concerns are making some people nervous about Election Day and beyond.
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Russian state-backed hackers are targeting U.S. state and local governments in the run-up to November's election, the federal government issues a warning on Thursday.
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Republicans are recruiting tens of thousands of poll watchers, saying that Democrats are trying to "steal" the election. Democrats and civil rights groups worry it could lead to voter intimidation.
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In a tight Senate race in Maine, opponents of Republican Sen. Susan Collins are focusing on her role in crafting a 2006 law that they say has crippled the U.S. Postal Service's finances.
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President Trump has stepped up his assault on both mail-in voting and the U.S. Postal Service. He stated that without additional money to fund both, Democrats will be unable to expand mail-in voting.
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A slew of primary elections that were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic are underway Tuesday. But in addition to the virus, election officials now have to grapple with civil unrest.
