SAN FRANCISCO -- Rep. Claude Pepper, an influential spokesmen for the nation's elderly, told Democratic delegates Tuesday that President Reagan 'can't seem to keep his itchy hands off of Social Security.'
The 82-year-old Florida resident, in a speech to the convention, credited a Democratic Congress with preserving Social Security when it faced a fiscal crisis last year.
'Even now, after we made Social Security solvent and sound for the next 75 years, and President Reagan promised to preserve it, Mr. Reagan has proposed more cuts,' said Pepper. 'He just can't seem to keep his itchy hands off of Social Security.'
Reagan has attempted to deflect Social Security as a campaign issue, denying he is seeking any benefit cuts to the nation's 28 million elderly.
By the time Pepper addressed the convention, only about 200 delegates remained.
Shaking his fists vigorously, wagging his finger and bellowing with an authority that sent his speech reverberating through the cavernous hall, he drew enthusiastic applause from the few still on hand.
Pepper called senior citizens the 'sleeping giant of American politics,' but said they have awakened in time to help defeat Reagan in November.
'When he appeared on the scene in 1980, Ronald Reagan was 70 years old,' said Pepper. ''I am one of you,'' he said. 'Trust me,' he said. 'I will preserve and protect those programs of importance to you.''
Pepper called Reagan 'the man with a winning smile and a bag full of promises' he didn't keep.
Likely Democratic nominee Walter Mondale and his running mate, Geraldine Ferraro, have proven congressional records in supporting the causes of the elderly, said Pepper.
Ms. Ferraro, he said, had a 'national reputation prosecuting the heartless criminals who made it their trade to rip off the elderly' when she was a prosecutor in Queens before being elected to Congress.
Pepper said Reagan has asked Congress every year to cut billions of dollars from Medicare. He noted Mondale co-sponsored the program while he was in the Senate.




