The phrase "a modest cut to" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing a small reduction in budget, expenses, or other measurable quantities.
Example: "The company announced a modest cut to its annual budget in response to the economic downturn."
Alternatives: "a slight reduction in" or "a small decrease to".
He thinks even a modest cut to 75% would reverse the trend.But it is that simple?
Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank, says even a modest cut to planned pay could yield significant savings.
NASA acting administrator Robert Lightfoot, taking the stage in an auditorium at NASA headquarters, gave an upbeat assessment of OMB's budget request, which includes a modest cut to the agency's funding but keeps most major programs intact.
More surprisingly, he did not even try – announcing significant new spending without any new offsetting savings, other than restating Labor's commitment to a multinational tax avoidance crackdown and a modest cut to superannuation tax concessions.
As a corollary, modest cuts to record, sky-high migration levels will be implemented, with employers who exploit migrant workers the target.
Taking 5 percent off what the Obama administration has proposed — and the House and Senate have largely accepted — for the S.B.A. in fiscal year 2013 would probably amount to a modest cut, but could still shut out some borrowers unless the agency is able to move some money around.
The bill, which would cost more than $300 billion, includes an increase of $1 billion a year for food stamps and other nutrition aid, and it would make a modest cut, of about $40 million a year, to a much-criticized farm subsidy that is paid based on acreage even if it is no longer farmed.
"But if, at the end of the day, we take a modest cut then I'm not going to be embarrassed about it.
"We've been saying all week that we think they're going to make a modest cut, just as additional insurance [against falling oil prices]," energy analyst Edward Meir of MF Global said.
Encouragingly, Mr Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, have agreed that a modest cut will accompany new weapons-counting rules to be fixed by the end of the year, with more ambitious reductions to follow.
As governor, Vice President Pence did make the largest income tax cut in Indiana's history — but he didn't have a very high bar to overcome, and it was a modest cut.
