WASHINGTON--U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced an amendment to the tax and spend extenders bill (H.R. 4213) that is currently being considered by the Senate to exempt any business from the employer mandate in the health law if that company certifies to the Departments of Labor and Treasury that it would be forced to cut jobs as a result of the employer mandate.

“The employer mandate would have the perverse effect of forcing businesses to let people go. When we’ve got a near 10 percent nationwide unemployment rate, I can’t think of a more misguided policy,” said Hatch. “My common-sense amendment would exempt those businesses from the job-killing employer mandate if they certify to the Departments of Labor and Treasury that it has forced them to cut jobs. Instead of spending more and more money of government programs, let’s get businesses back in the business of hiring.”

Since President Obama signed the $2.5 trillion health bill into law over two months ago, a long list of businesses have announced that they would be forced to cut their workforce because of the health law, including John Deere, Caterpillar, Medtronic, Verizon and even some ski resorts, among others.

Most major business groups opposed the recently-enacted health law, because of the tax hikes and employer mandate, including the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).