Sen. John Kerry slams tea party

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Senator John Kerry is in Boston with a strong message for voters to keep in mind next November.

“There is a small group that has the ability in the last days to hold the entire country and our economy hostage and were willing to literally shoot the hostage,” said Senator Kerry.

The Democratic U.S Senator from Massachusetts slammed the tea party for equating compromise to a “form of treason” and bringing the country to the brink of default by blocking efforts in Washington to raise the federal debt ceiling "that would have guaranteed a financial crisis more severe than anything since the Great Depression.”

In response, the Greater Boston Tea Party has issued a statement:

"Tea Party activists are proud of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress standing up for sane fiscal policy during the debt ceiling debate ...If anyone is holding Americans hostage, it is ideologues on the left like Senator Kerry who continue to insist their vision of a big government nanny state will eventually solve all the world's ills, if only common sense would surrender."

Many Massachusetts voters are scratching their heads over the extreme partisanship coming out of Washington, saying that more pressing issues like job growth should take priority.

“I think they should be focusing more on the economy and unemployment,” said Jane Kadlubkiewicz of Boston.

“I like to see our money being spent on infrastructure, that will create jobs, that would get people on the tax role that are on the dole,” said Robert Hatch, also from Boston.

Senator Kerry agreed, saying he has bipartisan support for an infrastructure bank proposal that will create jobs and grow the economy – something he said congress needs to focus on.

With talks on federal spending cuts on the horizon, Kerry hopes such talks are balanced by a search for revenue sources and suggested eliminating some of the tax breaks within our “73-thousand page” tax code.