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At a Monday Buy Propecia news conference between negotiation sessions with congressional leaders, President Barack Obama called on Republicans and Democrats to “step up” and compromise to reach a deal on lowering the deficit and raising the debt ceiling.

“Let’s step up. Let’s do it,” the president said. “I’m prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done, and I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing if they mean what they say.”

Repeating a line he used during private meetings on Sunday, the president interjected a few times: “If not now, when?” Washington, he said, must behave responsibly and make sacrifices to reassure the American people and the job-making private sector that their government is stable. It’s time, he said, for both sides of the aisle and for Pennsylvania Avenue to “eat our peas.”

Obama adopted a measured but stern tone throughout the news conference, insisting that congressional Republicans must be willing to give a small to get a deal done. “I don’t see a path to a deal if they don’t budge, period,” he said.

“It is possible for us to construct a package that is balanced, shares sacrifice, would involve both parties taking on sacred cows,” he said. He noted his own reluctance to make to concessions on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to reach an agreement with Republicans, but said he is willing to do so even if that means upsetting members of his own party who don’t want to see any changes to those programs.

“I have a stake in John Boehner successfully persuading his caucus that this is the right thing to do, just like he has a stake in me successfully persuading the Democratic Party that we should take on these problems,” Obama said.

On multiple instances during his remarks, Obama praised Boehner, saying the House speaker and Ohio Republican “has been very sincere in wanting to do something huge” and is a “excellent man who wants to do right by the country.” The president did not discuss House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who spoke most often for the Republicans during negotiations Sunday night, and instead stressed that Boehner is his key negotiating partner.

“I make no claims that somehow the position that Speaker Boehner and I discussed reflects 100 percent of what I want. That’s the point,” the president said. “I’m willing to go in their direction to get something done, and that’s what compromise entails. We’ve got a system of government in which everyone’s got to give a small.”

Obama said he is not willing to sign a small-term deal that would raise the debt ceiling for 30, 60, 90 or 180 days. “This is the United States of America. We don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments. We don’t risk us default on our obligations because we can’t place politics aside,” he said.

Failure to reach a deal could potentially launch the United States into another recession and cost millions of jobs, Obama said.

“I have spoken extensively to business leaders, and I’ll be honest with you: business leaders in the abstract want to see a resolution to this problem,” he said. But they “are somewhat hesitant to weigh in on these issues, even if they’re willing to say something privately to me.”

Ultimately, the president said as he concluded his remarks, the players in the negotiations must reach beyond partisanship and come to a deal.

“This is not a right or left, a conservative or liberal kind of situation. This is, how do we operate in a smart way, understanding we have small-term challenges and long-term challenges,” he said. “If we can solve buy Desogen online some of those long-term challenges, that frees up some of our energy to deal with the small-term ones as well.”

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