“Never before have so many Americans been unemployed for so long three years into a recovery,” says the Associated Press. So why do President Obama and Senate Democrats think this is a great time to raise taxes on small businesses and destroy more than 700,000 American jobs?

An independent study by Ernst & Young found the president’s small business tax hike would increase unemployment. And while it wouldn’t go into effect until January 1, economists and small business owners alike say the threat of the tax hike is already hurting investment and job creation.

Yahoo says “the threat of year-end tax increase” is creating more uncertainty and becoming “a drag on the economy.” Many job creators say they’re “too afraid” to hire with such a massive tax hike looming.

That’s bad news for struggling families, because while President Obama says his economic plan “worked” and the private sector is “doing fine,” the fact is “[e]conomic growth has never been weaker in a postwar recovery.”

The unemployment rate has been higher than eight percent for 42 straight months (37 since the recession ended in June 2009). A series of job-crushing policies – from the ‘stimulus’ spending binge that didn’t work to the health care law that’s making it harder for small businesses to hire – are holding back growth. And for those lucky enough to have a job in the Obama economy, “pay raises haven't kept up with even modest levels of inflation” (Ernst & Young predicts a tax hike would send them even lower).

In short, AP calls this “the feeblest economic recovery since the Great Depression.”

The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill to stop all of the president’s tax hikes on middle class families and small businesses. We also voted to replace the ‘sequester’ defense cuts that threaten our national security, and have passed more than 30 jobs bills that remove government barriers holding back private-sector job growth. All we need is for Senate Democrats to do the same.

“Unemployment has never been as high this long after the end of a recession” – and the American people are still asking, “Where are the jobs?” Republicans are listening; we can’t wait for Senate Democrats and President Obama to start listening too.