THIS IS A ROUGH CUT, NO REPORTER NARRATION

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a prepared speech before the House Finance Committee says the U.S. job market is far from normal. Bernanke said the U.S. economy would have to strengthen to ensure that the unacceptably high jobless rates keeps dropping. Those remarks suggest the door remains open on the option of further Fed bond buying.

This is day one of two days of semi-annual testimony before lawmakers.