Government shutdown could take wide ranging toll on workers, services on Long Island

For Long Islanders, this U.S. government shutdown carries potentially bigger stakes and far more sweeping impacts than previous federal closures.

Congressional auditors are predicting as many as 750,000 federal employees nationally could be furloughed each day, and agencies have plans outlining significant scaling back or halting of some services. On top of that, President Donald Trump and his lieutenants have threatened that mass firings could occur.

For many of the 31,000 civilian federal workers who live in Suffolk and Nassau counties — and whose duties will be deemed "nonessential" — that translates into taking leave without pay. Others will have to stay on the job without pay, and some others could permanently lose their jobs.

The big question is how long will this closure last? The longest shutdown had been spread out over 35 days, beginning Dec. 21, 2018. But five of 12 regular spending bills to keep agencies operating had already been enacted by Congress, so a chunk of the federal budget was not affected.

This year, none of the annual spending bills are enacted. That means this shutdown carries the potential to be more wide-ranging and, if prolonged, deliver the most severe impact ever to workers and programs.

Social Security and Medicare payments will continue. Medicaid will function as usual. And so will veterans’ health services and the U.S. mail.

But existing funding for such programs as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children could rapidly run low. Suffolk County, for instance, reports it services 14,000 WIC clients a week at nine sites, one of the largest programs in New York State.

And though the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is funded through October, it could be affected in a longer, prolonged shutdown.

Beyond that, sweeping plans put out by federal agencies on how they will address the "funding lapses" list a wide array of other tangible suspensions or scaling back of services and programs, but few geographic specifics. They range from food safety programs, to the lapsing of funding for the National Flood Insurance Program relied on by many Long Islanders amid hurricane season.

The two parties continue to take opposite positions, including members of Long Island’s congressional delegation.

Rep. Nick LaLota, (R-Amityville), said Tuesday in an interview with NewsdayTV that a shutdown "is no good for anybody." He likened congressional Democrats and Republicans to "a divorced couple."

But in this divorce, he faulted Democrats, who he said are breaking with congressional precedent by seeking to use a must-pass, stopgap bill, to "get their partisan priorities though."

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), sees it another way.

"The Republicans have refused during the course of this year to negotiate. It’s always been my way or the highway," Suozzi told NewsdayTV. But he warned that Long Island and other recipients of expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies will see "health insurance premiums are about to go through the roof," unless those are extended as he and other Democrats are seeking. He is a main sponsor of a bipartisan bill to continue those for another year.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) emphasized to NewsdayTV  that not only will the shutdown hurt Long Island workers and disrupt operations and services they depend on, "It also means the National Flood Insurance Program will lapse," which he said is important to many Long Islanders.
Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) said, "I hope Republicans change course and work with us to negotiate a bipartisan agreement that extends the critical tax credits that allow Nassau County families to afford health care."

She added in a statement:  "This shutdown could have been prevented and Americans would have benefitted if House Republicans governed responsibly.”

 Long Island’s resident federal workers are spread out, and as many as 14,000 of them work off the Island, but live in Suffolk or Nassau counties.

The biggest concentration — the second largest in the state — is in the Brookhaven and Upton areas of Suffolk County, where Brookhaven National Laboratory is located, according to research by Russell Weaver of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations lab in Buffalo.