The Federal Reserve has announced plans to keep interest rates near zero until the official unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent. The unprecedented move was unveiled alongside plans to purchase another $45 billion in Treasury debt. Announcing the measures, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said the Fed won’t be able to properly offset the full economic damage should the United States fall off the “fiscal cliff.”

Ben Bernanke: “Outside forecasters all think that that would have very significant adverse effects on the economy and on the unemployment rate. And so, on the margin, we would try to do what we could. We would perhaps increase a bit. But I just want to, again, be clear that we cannot — we cannot offset the full impact of the fiscal cliff. It’s just too big, given the tools that we have available and the limitations on our policy toolkit at this point.”