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moms to urge their uninsured adult children to sign up for the health insurance "exchanges" that open this fall.
• The exchanges are the centerpiece of the landmark overhaul of the nation's health insurance system. Three years after it became law, the measure widely known as "Obamacare" remains controversial, with GOP lawmakers resolving anew to overturn it and many Americans unsure how they'll be affected.
• White House advisers acknowledge they struggled in explaining the complex law to the public when it passed in 2010. Now, with the final components being implemented, Obama allies see a fresh opportunity to sell the American people on the merits of measures that will be central to the president's legacy.
• "We're in the phase for the actual meat of the law to come online," said Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress, a liberal group aligned with the White House. "It's important for the public to recognize that the law has tangible benefits to people so they feel comfortable enrolling."
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- With Congress increasingly unable to resolve budget disputes, federal programs on automatic pilot are consuming ever larger amounts of government resources. The trend helps older Americans, who receive the bulk of Social Security and Medicare benefits, at the expense of younger people.
• This generational shift draws modest public debate. But it alarms some policy advocates, who say the United States is reducing vital investments in the future.
• Because Democrats and Republicans can't reach a grand bargain on deficit spending -- with mutually accepted spending cuts and revenue hikes -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid keep growing, largely untouched. Steady expansions of these nondiscretionary "entitlement" programs require no congressional action, so they flourish in times of gridlock.
• Meanwhile, many discretionary programs are suffering under Washington's decision-by-indecision habits, in which lawmakers lock themselves into questionable actions because they can't agree on alternatives.
• The latest example is $80 billion in automatic budget cuts, which largely spare Medicare and Social Security. Growth in these costly but popular programs is virtually impossible to curb without bipartisan agreements.

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