WASHINGTON – Several Republican congressmen from New York say they will not endorse President Bush’s proposal to create individual retirement savings accounts until they see more details from the White House on overall Social Security reform.

They want the administration to explain how the accounts would work, how they would be paid for, and what other measures would be taken to avert the projected long-term shortfall in the Social Security system.

Rep. John Sweeney, an upstate Republican, said it is “premature” to ask him whether he supports the president’s proposal. “I can’t answer a direct question about it because there is not a direct proposal,” Mr. Sweeney said.

“No one has given members of Congress – those of us who might be open to be supportive – anything to sink our teeth into,” he said. “I want to see how it works, what security will be put in place, and what the return on investment will really mean.”

Rep. Peter King, a Republican of Long Island, said he is open to the idea of personal accounts, but he said that before declaring his full support, “I’d have to see the final package.”

Mr. King said he wants to see what kinds of benefit cuts, changes in cost of living adjustments, or tax increases would be necessary to bring the system into long-term solvency.

“I would support personal accounts as part of an overall package,” Mr. King said, adding that such accounts “by themselves do not make the Social Security system solvent.”

Although Mr. Bush has said there can be no deal without the accounts, Mr. King said he would not rule anything out. “We should fight to get them in, but never say ‘never’ to anything or you sound like the Democrats,” he said.

Rep. Vito Fossella, a Staten Island Republican, is also taking a wait-and-see approach, his spokesman, Craig Donner, said.

“There are 100 moving parts to Social Security,” Mr. Donner said. “The White House said that personal accounts by themselves don’t ensure solvency. You have to wait and see what the other 99 parts are before you can judge the plan.”

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, an upstate Republican, is similarly uncommitted.

“We’re still in the discovery period. He hasn’t made a decision at this point,” his spokesman, Samuel Marchio, said.

Mr. Boehlert wants to see specifics from the White House first on how the accounts would be paid for, and how the system would be brought into long-term balance.

“We don’t want to increase the national debt, we don’t want to jeopardize benefits for future retirees,” Mr. Marchio said.

On Saturday, Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address that the need for reform is urgent because “the present pay-as-you go system is going broke.”

“Some folks are playing down the problem, and say we can fix it later. The fact is, we have got a serious problem and we need to fix it now,” he said.

While the president and other senior administration officials criss-cross the country selling the idea of accounts, Mr. Sweeney said he will not hold town hall meetings until there is more detail to discuss.

“I am preparing to do some forums at some point. I’d like to be able to present to my constituents all sides of it,” he said.

Mr. King said that while he is meeting with groups of constituents on the issue, he is not in favor of holding public town halls because his last attempt to hold such an event several years ago, on the topic of breast cancer, degenerated into a “fiasco” between pro- and anti-abortion activists.

Mr. Sweeney added that he would like to see the Senate, where the Republican majority is slimmer and insufficient to block a Democratic filibuster, agree on the outlines of a proposal before members of the House of Representatives mobilize behind it.

“I don’t think there is an appetite in House to go out before the Senate if it’s not going to be real,” he said. “Until there seems to be some movement in the Senate, you kind of sit back and wait back for the strategy to evolve.”