WASHINGTON - Officials representing business groups, financial service companies, banks and insurance firms are gearing up for a legislative fight over Social Security, telling White House officials Thursday they are solidly behind President Bush's desire to remake the retirement system next year.

"The battle's begun," said Derrick Max, executive director of the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, a business-backed coalition that advocates letting younger workers invest part of their Social Security payroll taxes in voluntary personal retirement accounts.

Bush's business allies are "putting our marching orders together and moving forward" to provide crucial political support for the president's legislative priority next year, Max said after the meeting in Sen. Lindsay Graham's office. The South Carolina Republican wants his bill to be the legislative vehicle for the White House-approved overhaul of Social Security.

Democrats have pledged to fight attempts to revamp the New Deal program known as the untouchable third rail of politics.

The White House is reviewing various proposals, but has not endorsed a specific plan nor identified funding. Bush has said benefits for current and near-retirees would not be affected in his voluntary plan, which revives a 2000 campaign promise.

The businesses supporting Bush's effort have a financial interest in changing Social Security, including financial services companies that could benefit from fees charged for managing the investment accounts. Securities and investment firms were the fourth-largest industry donor to Bush's re-election campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Businesses also are concerned that Congress might raise the income cap on payroll taxes to help fund the retirement system, which will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2019. In 2042, tax revenue will cover about 73 percent of benefits owed.

White House officials at the meeting were Chuck Blahous, the point man on Social Security who was executive director of President Bush's 2001 Social Security commission, and Keith Hennessey, deputy director of the National Economic Council.

They provided no details about a White House plan, but assured business allies, including the Financial Services Forum, Charles Schwab & Co. and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that the administration was moving forward with plans to remake Social Security.

Business groups urged the administration to include estimated costs for an overhaul in the 2006 budget the White House will send Congress in February, a move that would signal how serious Bush is about pushing through a plan next year.

Blahous did not return a message left at his office Thursday afternoon. White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Blahous meets regularly with "all sectors of America - workers, retirees, employers, to listen and try to gather those best ideas to modernize the system."

Democrats, however, viewed the meeting with alarm.

"The wolf is knocking at the door and President Bush is about to open it," warned Rep. Bob Matsui, D-Calif., top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee's Social Security panel.

"It is not surprising that business groups are already scheming about how to get their hands on people's Social Security contributions," Matsui said. "I just hope these business groups also consider the explosion in debt that is part and parcel of privatization."

Duffy countered: "The wolf in sheep's clothing is those who suggest that Social Security is fine and there needs to be no fix whatsoever."

Graham's plan would let younger workers divert into private accounts two-thirds of their 6.2 percent in payroll taxes. For future retirees, base benefits would be cut by tying them to inflation instead of wage growth, with stock market gains assumed to make up any shortfall. The government would guarantee benefits up to 120 percent of the poverty rate to protect against stock market risk.

"We're not going to let people become day traders," he promised.

Since payroll taxes fund current retirees' benefits, the government would have to make up that loss of revenue. Transition costs, measured over 75 years, would be about $1.7 trillion.

That's an obstacle at a time of record budget deficits. Graham said the costs could be paid for over 10 years through borrowing, raising the salary cap on payroll taxes, budget cuts or closing tax loopholes. The system's unfunded liability over 75 years is $3.7 trillion.

Democrats contend that raising the salary cap on payroll taxes and tying base benefits to inflation are among the fixes that could help keep the current system in place.