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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the pandemic presented a historic threat. -
The nation's homeless population is expected to rise in the coming months, especially if a federal eviction moratorium ends in June. -
The Biden administration will distribute $5 billion in emergency housing vouchers included in a COVID-19 relief bill. But it's not always easy for voucher holders to find a place to use them.
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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. -
Most places where Americans usually register to vote have been closed since March. It's led to a big drop in new registrations right before an election that was expected to see record turnout. -
This week's primary in Wisconsin, which produced long lines of voters waiting in protective gear to cast their ballots, is a dire warning of what could lie ahead. -
Many food banks and homeless shelters depend on volunteers. But fewer are showing up at a time when the need for these services is skyrocketing. -
Four states were scheduled to hold presidential primaries Tuesday, but Ohio delayed its election until June to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.
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Election officials around the country are taking steps they hope will assure voters that they are safe at polling places, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus.
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As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to climb, election officials and candidates are weighing how to make sure the political process doesn't become the next casualty of the virus.
