A Politician Proposed a Two-Year Plan for Cutting a County's

Short Answer

A politician proposed a two-year plan for cutting a county's $36 million budget deficit, as shown in the table below. If this plan is put into effect, what will be the change (in millions of dollars) in the county's financial status in two years?
$$\begin{array} { | l | l | l | } \hline & \text { Plan } & \text { Prediction } \\\hline \text { 1st year } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Raise taxes, } \\\text { drop subsidy } \\\text { programs }\end{array} & \begin{array} { l } \text { Will cut deficit in } \\\text { half }\end{array} \\\hline \text { 2nd year } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Search out } \\\text { waste and fraud }\end{array} & \begin{array} { l } \text { Will cut } \\\text { remaining deficit } \\\text { in half }\end{array} \\\hline\end{array}$$
The budget deficit will be reduced by $__________ million.