"These agency spending reductions, however, only represent a first step".
Still, detractors worry that these changes could represent a first step toward denying patients additional treatments or the latest chemotherapy regimen based solely on the cost.
The moves did not bring any new executives to the company or entail any departures, but they appeared to represent a first step toward Mr. Parsons's goal of streamlining management.
The plans – which are far from finalised – represent a first step to auctioning off oil leases from 2017 to 2022, the interior secretary, Sally Jewell, told a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
A resolution of the dispute would also represent a first step toward allowing Turkey, an important American ally and a supporter of Azerbaijan, to resume normal relations with Armenia.
The trend away from voluntary reports towards mandatory social reporting for global corporations is here to stay and may represent a first step towards increased legislative requirements, ultimately backed up by government enforcement and serious liability for corporate wrong-doers.
Mr. Findlay, of Consumers Union, said that largely neutered Medicare's price-negotiating power, although it would represent a first step down the price-setting path that the industry is certain to fear.
Without considerable external pressure, recent internal reforms- which represent a first step in the right direction but not an end in itself- would never have taken place; it would be beyond delusional to expect human rights abuses to halt without more of the same.
Any attempt to reduce the powers of patronage conferred by savings banks' social donations will be fought hard in the regions.What alarms the regions most of all is the idea, spread by some opposition politicians and even by some in the Popular Party, that the proposed changes to the capital structure and governance of savings banks represent a first step toward full-scale privatisation.
Our efforts represent a first step toward the formulation of a generalized lens model framework.
Genome-scale stoichiometric models of microorganisms represent a first step in this direction.
