Another credit rating agency is warning the U.S. government to get a handle on its debt problems or face a downgrade in its credit rating.

Fitch Ratings is the third ratings agency to issue such a warning, after Standard and Poors and Moody's.

Fitch said that if Congress and the White House don't reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, the U.S. could lose its AAA credit rating.

On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Washington urgently needs to take care of its massive debt so the U.S. economy can be healthy in the future.

Speaking at a banking conference in Atlanta, Bernanke said he expects the current weak recovery to keep going without any serious outbreak of inflation.

"Overall, the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers," he said.

The Fed chairman said he expects the economy to pick up later in the year.