Word: billion
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...dilemma of its own making. Back in 2000, the U.N. agreed on a set of lofty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals that aimed to lift African nations and other poor countries out of their cycles of poverty, illiteracy and disease by 2015. But of the $150 billion development assistance pledged by governments, just $104 billion has been provided. Douste-Blazy believes that only individual philanthropy will be able to make up the shortfall. "The architecture of development is changing," Douste-Blazy tells TIME. (Read "U.N. War Crimes Allegation Won't Change Israel's Calculations...
Over the summer, the MBTA announced that it was considering fare hikes and service reductions to help eliminate the agency's $180 million budget deficit and $5 billion debt. But Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick '78 has suspended planned public discussions on the service changes, and it's unclear if the proposals are still on the table...
...bill to overhaul the nation's health-care system. The Montana Democrat did his best to sell the controversial proposal, stressing that it was largely in line with the principles laid out last week by President Barack Obama: it has a 10-year price tag of less than $900 billion, doesn't add to the deficit and includes a mechanism to ensure that those with pre-existing conditions can't be denied coverage. But Baucus' relentlessly positive spin couldn't change the fact that for all the wrangling and delays, not a single Republican signed on to his much touted...
...getting an exemption [from the requirements that all individuals have health insurance] or being penalized, that is not going to meet their test of health-care security." The problem, of course, is paying for more subsidies. In its current version, the bill actually shrinks the deficit by about $50 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. For many deficit hawks on Capitol Hill, unfunded liabilities are out of the question...
...Medicare Baucus has held down the fiscal impact of his legislation by proposing to cut a hefty $500 billion in Medicare costs. The bill claims to do this by trimming a lot of fat out of the system and setting up an independent, nonpartisan panel that will take away Congress's power to set Medicare payment policies and reimbursement rates. But, most controversially, the bill takes a big chunk of money from the Medicare Advantage program, which essentially subsidizes insurers. "We are committed to working with policymakers and stakeholders to find savings in the Medicare program, including Medicare Advantage...