"cushion the effect" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when referring to something that reduces the severity of the effects of a situation or event. For example: "The government has put in place a series of policies to cushion the effect of the economic downturn."
The officials also described a few strategies intended to cushion the effect of the cuts.
Production backlogs resulting from past contracts are also expected to cushion the effect.
This has helped cushion the effect on Chinese exporters from the euro's difficulties.
"Without universal health insurance to protect every family from the financial ravages of illness and without higher levels of unemployment compensation to cushion the effect of a layoff, each day, in good times and in bad, some families will fall over the financial edge," they wrote.
In more than a dozen recent interviews at the Canton Fair here, the country's largest export trade fair, every business owner or sales manager described increasing difficulties in borrowing money — as well as strategies that banks and borrowers alike are using to cushion the effect of the new lending restrictions.
The project's cost estimate includes base cost, contingency cost, cost to cushion the effect of future market condition and escalation.
Structural reforms can help to cushion the effects of a slowdown.
Over the past year, to cushion the effects of the downturn in manufacturing, they have cut interest rates and accelerated infrastructure projects.
Employees are tapping "time accounts," a device that Trumpf and many other companies created over the last decade to cushion the effects of a slowdown.
Sustained growth in Germany would help Europe recover more quickly from the recent recession and cushion the effects of the Continent's sovereign debt crisis.
Still, while size can often cushion the effects of a delinquency on a building's overall health, the issue is becoming more urgent for buildings across the board.
