By Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff

Liberals sharply cautioned President Obama on Thursday to resist compromising away Democratic priorities as part of any deficit reduction deal with Republicans to clear the way for raising the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit.

During a White House meeting between House Democrats and Obama, some of the caucus’ top liberals pushed the president to ensure that tax hikes for wealthy Americans and major oil companies are part of any pact and urged him to avoid reducing Medicare benefits or fundamentally reordering that program.

Allies close to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California took the lead in warning Obama not to move too far to the center in the administration’s quest to end a partisan standoff over raising the debt limit before an Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department to avert a default.

Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, co-chairwoman of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and Henry A. Waxman of California each delivered pointed appeals to Obama against making too many concessions to the Republicans.

DeLauro said she urged Obama to press for higher taxes on the wealthy and oil companies and to defend low-income families. “I don’t want to see the safety net cut,” she said, adding that Medicare and Medicaid benefits must be protected.

Waxman said he expressed concerns shared by other Democrats about the possibility that Obama will “cave in” to Republican demands for a deficit reduction package focused primarily on deep cuts in domestic programs.

“The Republicans — from everybody I’ve talked to on the Republican side — think he’s going to cave,” Waxman said after the meeting. “And that’s a mistake. . . . He needs to lay the predicate that he’s not only resolved to hold the line, but that the public supports what he’s doing.”

Waxman said he and many Democrats are uneasy about the level of confidence among Republicans that the administration will embrace a deficit reduction deal acceptable to many Republicans and centrist Democrats, but offensive to liberals.

Waxman, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said he urged Obama to draw a stronger line in negotiations with the Republicans and to “get the public more on our side and let them in on some of these issues.”

But other prominent liberal voices, such as Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, expressed a sense of resignation that the bipartisan deficit reduction talks have moved well away from the priorities of the liberal base.

Compromises behind closed doors to reduce the deficit are almost certain to be opposed by liberal Democrats, lawmakers said.

Ellison said Obama “does what he wants to do. . . . I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing I say matters to him.” Liberals are increasingly being sidelined, he said, adding, “He talks to us to check a box. I don’t think he’s listening.”

But, Ellison added, he reminds himself that Obama is a Democrat, and “therefore he’s better than any Republican.”