"If not now, when?"

During a 75-minute session Sunday at the White House, Obama told the congressional leaders that America is not a “banana republic,” so he won’t agree to several months-long debt increases that raise fears of a default, according to two Democratic officials familiar with the meeting.

He argued several times that negotiators should work toward a large-scale package for reducing the deficit rather than the smaller one favored by Republicans, calling on them to stand up to their base to get it done. He said both parties would suffer politically, but they need to do something substantial, said a third Democratic official familiar with the meeting…

The meeting, which featured several sharp and frustrated exchanges, broke without settling much other than negotiators’ plans for their next meeting, according to multiple Republican and Democratic officials briefed on the session.

Obama challenged the Republican leaders’ contention that a deal worth about $2.5 trillion would face a smoother path in the House. He told them that if they think it’s easier to pass a smaller package, then they need to return Monday with a plan for how they would do it, according to the Democratic official.