Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday launched into a fiery takedown of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying state and local governments with cratered finances because of the coronavirus pandemic should be allowed to file for bankruptcy rather than rely on federal aid.

“My breath is taken away,” Murphy, a Democrat, said of the Kentucky Republican during his daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton.

“Really? This is the time, in a moment of crisis unlike any our country has faced in at least 100 years, to suggest it’s a good thing for states to go bankrupt?" the governor asked.

“Come on, man,” Murphy said. “That is completely and utterly irresponsible. There’s no level of responsibility associated with that. And I don’t care what party you’re in.”

Murphy added that, “as usual,” McConnell is “dead wrong.”

“Because that won’t happen,” the governor said. “We won’t go bankrupt. You have my word we won’t go bankrupt.”

But without federal aid, Murphy said, states will be forced to lay off public workers and “gut the living daylights” out of “the exact services that our citizens need right now."

“We will just cut, cut, cut, and cut,” he continued. "We won’t go bankrupt, senator, but we will leave our citizens in the lurch at their most profound hour of need. We will leave people on the beach, alone, helpless. That is what will happen in New Jersey. … And that will happen in Kentucky. You have my word.

“So watch your words, sir,” Murphy said. “This is the time to stand up on a bipartisan basis and be there for the states in America, not just for the states’ sake, but for the American people. Please, God.”

McConnell, the highest-ranking member of the Senate, made the comments during an interview Wednesday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

He was discussing how Democrats — like Murphy — are calling for Congress to provide direct aid for states and cities as their revenues plummet in the wake of stay-at-home orders, business closings, and record unemployment during the pandemic.

McConnell said federal leaders would have to “thoroughly evaluate” giving local governments the money, fearing that states saddled by large debt because of public-worker pensions could add billions more to the national debt. And his office on Wednesday referred to the requests as “blue state bailouts.”

“There’s not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations,” McConnell told Hewitt.

The Senate leader added he would “certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route.

“It saves some cities," McConnell said. "And there’s no good reason for it not to be available.”

“My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that,” he continued. “That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks at the Capitol in Washington last month.AP

Right now, bankruptcy isn’t possible. States don’t have the ability to file under current law, and Congress would have to act to allow it.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a nearly $500 billion package to provide more funding for small businesses, hospitals, and testing. But aid to local governments wasn’t included.

With residents ordered to stay home and nonessential businesses forced to close, Murphy has said New Jersey’s tax collections are crashing during the outbreak — though he has not provided any hard numbers or projections.

The governor said this past weekend he might have to lay off an “historic” number of public workers in the Garden State if Congress doesn’t do agree to state aid. He has also urged state lawmakers to allow the state to borrow billions.

Murphy said Wednesday if there’s no state aid, unemployment would likely double in America because a rash of public workers would lose their jobs.

The governor also insisted he wasn’t criticizing McConnell to “be partisan.”

“In fact, if the words were spoken by a Democrat, I would be equally as forceful,” he said.

Meanwhile, Murphy said he believes President Donald Trump is “in a better place on this.”

“He’s gonna have to be,” Murphy said. “Because it’s not an option. If we are going to continue to serve folks who are unemployed, small businesses that are bust, folks who are sick or, God forbid, dying. We have got to be there for them, and the federal government is gonna have to give us the wherewithal to allow us to be able to do that.”

Murphy wasn’t the only New Jersey official angry at McConnell’s comments. So was U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist.

“These wretched remarks by Mitch McConnell are a smack right into the face of every American,” Pascrell said in a statement “Our states are being bled bone-dry to weather this storm. Lives will be wrecked for years, if not decades, unless the government steps in and supports every state. And McConnell is vowing to block that support out of vicious, partisan spite."

New Jersey, which has 9 million residents, now has at least 95,865 COVID-19 cases, with 5,063 related deaths, officials said Wednesday. Only New York has more coronavirus cases and deaths among U.S. states.

State officials have said in recent days the rate of hospitalizations in New Jersey is stabilizing, but Murphy stresses that his lockdown orders must remain for at least another few weeks until numbers drop and there is more robust testing in place.

More than 718,000 workers in New Jersey have filed for unemployment in the wake of the restrictions.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Jonathan D. Salant contributed to this report.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.