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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Varying levels of preparedness were on display at an Orlando meeting between Florida election officials and staffers from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. -
Rather than downplay the threat of Russian interference in American elections, administration and state officials are cooperating to safeguard future votes. -
Poor families are already having an increasingly difficult time finding an affordable place to live thanks to high rent, static incomes and a shortage of housing aid. -
President Trump has dissolved the commission he had set up to investigate claims of voter fraud. Steve Inskeep speaks with Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the former commissioners.
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President Trump dissolved the presidential commission he established last year to investigate claims of voter fraud in the 2016 election.
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Some countries, such as France, Austria and Poland, prohibit removing people from their homes during cold weather but that's not the case in the United States. -
It's the first time the number of homeless people has grown since 2010. In Los Angeles, homelessness is up by nearly 26 percent, fueled by high housing prices. -
Voter confidence was shaken by revelations that Russia targeted election systems in at least 21 states last year. A year later, efforts to tighten voting cybersecurity is making some progress.
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Even though Republicans promise to preserve the deduction for charitable donations, nonprofits say other proposed changes in the bill could discourage as much as $13 billion in annual giving. -
The commission is facing eight lawsuits and one Republican member says, "We're not emailing each other. We're not conversing with each other."
