mr. speaker , let me thank my new york colleague for extending me the 5 minutes . 
i rise in opposition to the rule because it appears to be inconsistent with all of the things that the president is talking about . 
the president is talking about relieving the tax burdens of working americans , and yet there is no provision at all for the alternative minimum tax that is going to grab the middle income people with a tax that they do not deserve , and the committee on ways and means and this congress never intended that they have to carry this burden . 
i am glad that the gentleman from iowa ( chairman nussle ) saw fit to put the $ 50 billion in because it is an indication that they know that a war is going on , and i only wish that they would put something in there to help those veterans that are fighting the war . 
lastly , if the president is going around the country selling this concept that we ought to eliminate this social security system and set up a new system , everyone agrees that it is going to cost a lot of money to do this . 
the transition is very , very costly . 
it runs into trillions of dollars , and yet there is not one scintilla of evidence that the president 's legislative ideas are considered by the house in this budget . 
the president had a press conference today , and he has indicated that the personal accounts , as he called them , and private accounts , as we called them , actually will not do anything to make the social security system solvent . 
so , in support of the president 's position , what we are saying here in defeating the rule , give us the opportunity to bring legislation to my colleagues that would prohibit us from taking the contributions that are made to the social security fund out of that and putting it into a private fund , which the president agrees with us has nothing to do with saving social security . 
as a matter of fact , he says that personal accounts will make sure that individual workers get a better deal in whatever emerges as a social security system , which means that if it is separate and just to make someone feel good because they have private investments , then come , mr. president and my fellow colleagues of the other side of the aisle , and let us talk about it by taking personal private accounts off of the table and , in a bipartisan way , help us to get something that emerges out of social security . 
then , if we want to encourage incentives for savings , since the third rail that the president has grabbed is changing the income tax system , then let us work together and put incentives in the tax system that would encourage low and middle income workers to have a savings . 
it just seems to me to have a budget today that excludes the real cost of the war , that punishes veterans that suffered in the war , that makes no provisions for relieving the economic pain that is going to be caused by the alternative minimum tax , and to act like the president going for 60 cities in 60 days will have no legislative impact , then let us save a lot of money and say that we can not deal with social security reform today , not because we do not have a problem , but the president is committed in making certain that we do not find a bipartisan solution . 
but the president going into districts knocking democrats because they are not coming forward to work with him is inconsistent with what our president has said when he brought this subject up , and that is keep your powder dry , do not be critical because i will be coming up with a bill , and then after that come to us . 
the president has changed his position three times . 
first , he says there is no crisis ; and we agree with him that there is a problem . 
two , he indicates that the personal accounts really are not the solution and have nothing to do with the solution of solvency . 
and , three , he is now saying he wants ideas instead of coming up with what he thinks should be the solution . 
it just seems to me that it is up to us to make certain that we still work for a bipartisan solution ; and if the president does not believe that his personal and our private accounts are going to help us in resolving this problem , then for god 's sake let us get on with social security and with the help of the gentleman from california ( mr. dreier ) xz4001150 , a personal friend of the president who listens to him , tell him we agree with the president that if it does not solve the problem , get out of the way and let us together , republicans and democrats , solve this problem . 
