WASHINGTON — In a blunt challenge to Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama insisted today that elimination of selected tax breaks for oil companies and the super-wealthy must be included in any deficit reduction plan.

“You stay here. Let's get it done,” he all-but-lectured lawmakers, holding open the possibility of keeping Congress in Washington unless there is significant progress by week's end on a deal to cut deficits, raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit and avert a threatened financial crisis.

He said a plan must be in place by Aug. 2, a date he called “a hard deadline.”

At his first White House news conference in three months, lasting a little over an hour, Obama also called on Congress to renew a payroll tax cut that took effect on Jan 1, one of several steps he said lawmakers can take quickly to help reduce 9.1 percent unemployment.

Although he declined to announce support for legalizing gay marriage, he defended his record on rights for homosexual Americans, saying he had done more to advance their cause than any of his 43 presidential predecessors.