Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has signalled that the US central bank will not take any immediate action to boost growth.
Mr Bernanke said the Fed had a range of tools that could be used to provide additional monetary stimulus and their use would be considered at an extended meeting in September.
He also hinted that the US government needed to do more to aid economic growth.
Mr Bernanke said most of the economic policies that support robust economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank.
"To achieve economic and financial stability, US fiscal policy must be placed on a sustainable path that ensures that debt relative to national income is at least stable or, preferably, declining over time," he said.
Earlier, revised data showed the US economy grew less than first estimated in the second quarter of 2011.
The Commerce Department now says the economy expanded at an annualised rate of 1% between April and March, down from its first estimate of 1.3%.
The figures were seen as raising pressure on the Federal Reserve to do more to boost the economy, for instance by introducing further quantitative easing - an injection of cash into the financial system.
