Bernanke, Ben

We're going to continue to communicate our policy intentions and to make clear that notwithstanding how the mix of policy tools changes that we intend to maintain a highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future.

And I think that message is beginning to get through. And I think that will be helpful.

More generally, we will be watching to see if the movement in mortgage rates has any material affect on housing. I mean, the main thing is to see housing continue to grow, more jobs in construction and the like.

And, as we've said, if we think that mortgage rate increases are threatening that progress, then we would have to take additional action in the monetary sphere to try to address that.

Of course, there's always scope for Congress to look at the problems that remain in the housing market in terms of people underwater, in terms of refinancing of underwater mortgages, other kinds of issues that -- that Congress could -- could look at.

But we are -- we're going to be looking at it from the perspective of whether or not the housing recovery is continuing to a degree sufficient to provide the necessary support for the overall economic recovery.