Rosenbaum covered the 1970s Senate Watergate hearings, the 1980s Iran–Contra affair, the restructuring of Medicare and Social Security, and various budget and tax debates between Congress and the White House.
His popular feature, "The Fine Print", dissected pending policies and legislation, revealing hidden, perplexing or hypocritical facts about current bills and new laws.
[2] Rosenbaum's 2006 death, under dramatic circumstances, led to reforms in the troubled emergency services system of the District of Columbia, and brought attention to related public safety issues nationwide.
[1][5][6][9][10][11] After store surveillance cameras revealed they had used Rosenbaum's credit cards, Michael C. Hamlin and Percy Jordan, Jr. turned themselves into authorities and confessed to the robbery.
The report led to a public apology by the City's Fire and EMS Chief, and drew national attention to the issues raised about emergency services nationwide.
[6][9][10][11][13][14][15] Rosenbaum's family agreed to forgo a suit against the city in exchange for the creation of a task force to investigate and improve Washington's emergency services.
By the start of 2008, the District of Columbia got a new fire chief and a full-time medical director, began electronic tracking of patient interactions, and enhanced its oversight of emergency services.