While President Obama today announced initiatives meant to help small businesses, Democrats continue planning a government takeover of health care that will devastate those same businesses and their employees.

"As the Obama Administration announces plans for so-called ‘help’ for small businesses, House Democrats are preparing a government-run health care plan that would hit small businesses with hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes," said Congressman John Carter (TX-31).

The Democrat plan would impose $208 billion in taxes on businesses who cannot afford to finance their workers’ health coverage. The Congressional Budget office has confirmed that this tax on jobs masquerading in the form of a "pay-or-play" mandate "could reduce the hiring of low-wage workers," and could also lead to wage stagnation as wage compensation is diverted to comply with new federal taxes and mandates.

A model developed by the White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer indicates that as many as 5.5 million jobs could be lost from this tax alone — at a time when the unemployment rate is rapidly approaching 10 percent.

"We all agree that we must address the health care challenges facing American families, but we must do so in a responsible way," Carter said. "Passing a government takeover of health care with massive new taxes on small businesses is the wrong plan for reform at the worst possible time, and it must be opposed."

Small businesses account for more than 99 percent of all businesses in the country and provide a source of income for roughly half of the U.S. workforce.

"Since Democrats took control of Washington in January, an average of 376,000 jobs have been lost each month," Carter said. "Why are they now pushing for a takeover of health care that will increase the government burden on small businesses and make job losses worse?"