The chairman of the U.S. central bank is warning lawmakers not to cut government spending too sharply too soon, saying it could further harm the economy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress Tuesday, telling members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate the U.S. recession was deeper and the recover weaker than the Fed initially estimated.

He said lawmakers must make deep cuts in spending, eventually going beyond the $1.5 trillion in cuts sought by a special Congressional panel. But Bernanke also said lawmakers must “avoid fiscal actions that could impede” a sluggish economic recovery.

Bernanke has repeatedly assured lawmakers and investors that the central bank has tools to help boost the economy, despite already lowering the benchmark borrowing rate to almost zero. But the Fed’s latest maneuver to lower borrowing rates for consumers has yet to make an impact.

The U.S. government said last week that the country’s sluggish economy grew a bit faster than first estimated in the April-to-June period, but still not fast enough to reduce the country’s high unemployment rate.

More than 14 million people are unemployed and the country’s unemployment rate has hovered around 9 percent for months.

A report last week on U.S. consumer sentiment showed Americans are also worried about the troubled housing market and falling stock prices.