If Congress doesn't reach a deal by Wednesday to keep the U.S. government funded, Long Island could face impacts more severe than in previous shutdowns, including layoffs among its 31,000 resident federal workers.

No matter where the political blame lands in Washington, federal firings, furloughs and interruptions of critical services and operations over any extended period will hit individuals and families, and the economies of local communities, the hardest.

The second-highest concentration in New York State of civilian federal workers and their earnings is found in the Brookhaven and Upton areas of Suffolk County, where the Brookhaven National Laboratory (an arm of the U. S. Department of Energy) is located, according to research by Russell Weaver of the Cornell University School of I

See Full Page