Payback time

American states, both red and blue, watch helplessly as the coronavirus vaporizes revenue streams and stresses government-run safety net programs, portending potentially massive future cuts to essential services and infrastructure. New York, walloped by the virus and by a bottoming out of tourism- and commuter-related tax dollars, is atop the list.

Yet President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell still refuse to approve hundreds of billions of dollars in House-approved aid to states and localities. McConnell calls the aid a “trillion-dollar slush fund,” even though his home state of Kentucky is one of many up the creek without a paddle.

Combined state and local revenue losses in New York this year alone total more than $20 billion. Even the cleverest budget cuts couldn’t bridge that gap. Other options, like borrowing or laying off government employees, are likely to cause more problems than they solve.

While McConnell and Trump are stonewalling, they would do well to remember where their bread is buttered.

Some of their most generous donors happen to be New Yorkers, like Steve Schwarzman, Steve Witkoff, Joe Cayre and others, people who own (once) thriving businesses or healthy real estate portfolios. Those donors know that their fortunes, and the country’s, are inextricably bound up with the fate of New York.

If Mayor de Blasio were politically savvy, he’d have phoned those donors, instead of begging Albany for borrowing authority. But he won’t ask, so we will. Dear donors, please use your clout. Please help. Please. Help.