Washington ? President Bush declared Thursday that the Social Security system has already reached a “crisis” stage as he made the case for an expansive second-term domestic agenda that would dramatically restructure the nation’s retirement program, tax code and legal liability system.

In wrapping up a two-day White House economic conference, Bush pressed Congress to accept his plans to solve what he sees as the most urgent problems threatening the nation’s economic future. While he found only agreement among the carefully selected panelists around him, it was clear the debate shaping up in Congress is centering on how serious the problems really are in the first place.

Bush presented a scenario where future Social Security obligations, a cluttered tax system and runaway lawsuits may strangle the economic recovery that has taken hold over the past year. Without bold action right away, he warned, the problems will grow worse and burden successive generations. On Social Security in particular, he echoed the language of anti-addiction programs by insisting that the first step is to acknowledge the problem.

“One of my charges,” Bush said in a 39-minute speech at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, “is to explain to Congress as clearly as I can: ‘The crisis is now. You may not feel it, your constituents may not be overwhelming you with letters demanding a fix now, but the crisis is now.'”

Bush made clear that he intends to expend considerable political energy in pushing for a partial privatization of Social Security to help secure the program, which faces sizable shortfalls over the next few decades. By 2018, he said, Social Security will be paying out more than it collects, and over the long term the system faces a $10.4 trillion unfunded liability.

Bush said the Social Security investment accounts he was proposing would have rules to prevent workers from gambling away their retirement money.

He is proposing that workers be allowed to take part of the Social Security taxes they now pay into the system and instead invest in private accounts. But he said there would be restrictions on the money.

“You can’t take it to the race track and hope to really increase the returns. It’s not there for the lottery,” Bush said.

Congressional Democrats dismissed the conference as a public relations exercise distorting fiscal reality. Citing different accounting than the president’s, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California argued that Social Security would still be solvent for nearly 50 years.

“Social Security faces real challenges, but is not in crisis,” they said in a joint statement. “As we work together to address these challenges, the last thing we should do is cut its funding and make the problem worse.”

Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Calif., a point man for the Democrats on Social Security, said the Bush team understates the long-term costs of his privatization proposal. “He’s laid no foundation for this,” Matsui said in an interview. “He hasn’t come up with his own plan with specific proposals, and the same thing with tax reform.”

Bush instead restated his broad principles. On Social Security, he insisted on allowing young workers to shift some of their contributions to personal investment accounts, ruled out any payroll tax increase to compensate for the revenue that would be lost in the short term and vowed not to touch benefits for current retirees.

“It’s very important for seniors to understand nothing will change,” he said at a Thursday morning session. “In other words, nobody is going to take away your check.”

He also promoted proposals to simplify the tax code, though he did not specify how; make permanent the tax cuts he pushed through during his first term; restrict what he considers excessive court awards against businesses and health care providers; expand health security accounts that allow tax-free savings for medical treatment; and extend the No Child Left Behind education testing program to the high school level.

Bush offered few clues to how he would pay for his plans other than vowing to exercise restraint in the budget he will send to Congress early next year.