tread water

This lopsided pattern means that efforts to promote corporate accountability at best tread water, while industry victories regularly reshape the legal landscape.

Roberts won’t say this publicly, but the Dodgers just have to tread water until they are whole.

In the meantime, the Dodgers will have to continue to tread water.

Would Liverpool tread water or even go backwards for a season or two while his successor settled into the job?

She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".