Bernanke Urges Republicans at Dinner to ‘Deal With’ Debt

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged Republicans during a dinner meeting yesterday to find a way to “deal with” the rising U.S. national debt without endorsing a specific plan, lawmakers who attended said.

“He said we have to deal with the debt,” Representative Steve Pearce, a Republican from New Mexico, said in an interview after leaving the session with the central bank chief on Capitol Hill. “So far the market seems to be forgiving of the fact that we haven’t,” Pearce said, adding that Bernanke told lawmakers that “we need to deal with it.”