Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday delivered his twice-a-year testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. The Fed Chairman nodded in agreement when Senator Warner noted that a $4 trillion reduction in the federal debt over 10 years is relatively modest compared to the austerity being asked of citizens in the U.K. and across Europe.

In what The Financial Times called the “literary reference du jour,” Senator Warner said this while discussing the fiscal cliff: “Waiting for Congress is a bit like Waiting for Godot.”

Bernanke noted that the U.S. is not quite Greece, but reiterated that lawmakers need to act.

"We're lucky we can borrow at very low interest rates,” Bernanke said. “We're not in the situation as a Greece or Portugal."