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<p><div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="Bob McDonald" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/519ec8f669bedd2c07000007-960/bob-mcdonald.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="caption">Bob McDonald</p></div></div>Bob McDonald, the 59-year-old CEO of <keyword id="6361491" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Procter-Gamble">Procter &amp; Gamble</keyword> and a 33-year veteran of the company, has stepped down suddenly.</p>
<p>He will be replaced by an old hand: his predecessor, A.G. Lafley (presumably on a temporary basis — Lafley's 65 and has already been CEO once before).</p>
<p>P&amp;G is the world's largest advertiser, with a global media budget of more than $10 billion annually.</p>
<p>The move comes after <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2013/05/23/bob-mcdonald-out-at-procter-a-g-lafley-returning-as-ceo/">pressure from activist investor Bill Ackman</a>, according to Forbes:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">McDonald was thought to be in jeopardy of losing his job last summer after a string of reductions to profit forecasts frustrated analysts and investors, and Ackman barreled onto the scene, unveiling a $1.8 billion stake in the company.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Ackman had privately urged the company’s board last year to replace McDonald, according to the Wall Street Journal, and at the Ira Sohn investing conference early this month, the hedge fund manager had said that McDonald only had a couple of quarters to show that he could improve performance. Ackman also took pot shots at  McDonald for serving on too many corporate boards, which, he claimed to have calculated, ate up 25% of his time.</p>
<p><div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="flickr/jordanfischer" title_caption="A.G. Lafley" class="zoomin" href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5135fee069beddae0800000f-960/ag-lafley-3.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanfischer/2531469690/sizes/o/in/photostream/">flickr/jordanfischer</a></p><p class="caption">A.G. Lafley</p></div></div>In fact, investors began taking shots at McDonald a year ago. On a conference call at that time,  <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/procter-gambles-ceo-discusses-q3-194007928.html">Ali Dibadj of Sanford C. Bernstein suggested McDonald wasn't cutting it</a>. "How much patience does the board have?" is the quote that will go down in history:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Unilever or Personal Care grew 10%, J&amp;J skin in the U.S. grew 6.3%, [indiscernible] grew 6.5%, Kimberly grew 6%, all organic, all with their profitability, supposedly not through price gaps because it sounds like that's a minor issue. And I'm not sure if you can use geographic mix as an excuse anymore. So I'm just trying to understand how long do you expect investors to wait? How long does your current plan have to work? How much patience does the board have?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/procter-and-gamble-facebook-and-advertising-2013-5">McDonald has had difficulty getting the company to fire on all cylinders</a> at once, according to the Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Mr. McDonald reacted by refocusing on P&amp;G's core markets and products and cutting costs. The company's shares reacted, rising 26% in the past 12 months. But they tumbled last month after the disappointing earnings report. P&amp;G said its sales rose just 3% after stripping out currency movements and the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, at the low end of the company's forecast.</p>
<p>Most famously, McDonald steered <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pg-ceo-to-lay-off-1600-after-discovering-its-free-to-advertise-on-facebook-and-google-2012-1">P&amp;G in the direction of "free" social and online media</a>, only to haul it <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/procter-and-gamble-facebook-and-advertising-2013-5">back to old-fashioned paid media</a> when he didn't see the results he liked.</p>
<p>He <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/procter-and-gamble-facebook-and-advertising-2013-5">laid off more than 6,250 marketers</a> in the process.</p>
<p><strong>Here are <a href="http://adage.com/article/news/bob-mcdonald-steps-p-g-ceo-replaced-a-g-lafley/241678/">McDonald and Lafley's letters to their staff</a>, per Ad Age:</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Dear P&amp;G Friends,</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Today I’m announcing my retirement from Procter &amp; Gamble.  This has been a very difficult decision for me, but I’m convinced it is what is in the best interests of theCompany and you.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Replacing me will be my friend and mentor, A.G. Lafley.  I’m thankful that A.G. has agreed to come back to P&amp;G and carry on with the work we have collectively done to strengthen the Company, its business and its organization.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">During the past year, much attention has been focused on me from several angles, which has been a distraction that is not in our best interests.  I’ve always believed that we are a Company -- One Company -- comprised of great individuals.  When we get to a point where too much attention becomes a distraction, it’s time to change that dynamic.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Most important, thank you for all you are doing to make P&amp;G the great Company it is and always will be.  I am proud of what you have accomplished, and it has been a privilege to be a part of it.  During the last four years together, we’ve expanded our business into many new categories and geographies.  By the end of this year, developing markets will account for 40% of our sales and 45% of volume.  We’ve launched exciting innovations with many more to come. And, we’ve made significant progress on our productivity program.  There are many more accomplishments, and I cannot thank you enough for all your hard work and dedication.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I love this Company and all of you.  I will celebrate 33 years with P&amp;G on June 4, and I first met A.G. the night before I interviewed.  I know you will give A.G. your very best effort.  We are on the way up, but there is more to do.  We have an opportunity to have an excellent quarter, and there will be many more to come in the future.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">My official retirement date is June 30.  Please know I am always available to help you in any way I am able.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Best wishes.  I have every confidence in you.  I am counting on you.  Thanks.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Bob</p>
<p><strong>Here's Lafley's memo:</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Dear P&amp;Gers,</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Today I am rejoining P&amp;G.  I’m looking forward to working with all of you again, to do what we do best and what matters most -- win with consumers.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I want to thank Bob McDonald for his 33 years of service to the Company, and for his leadership.  I’ve known Bob his entire career, and he has real passion for doing what is right and for improving the lives of consumers around the world.  </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I also want to thank P&amp;Gers for the work you’re doing to win with consumers.  I want to assure you that we will build on the business momentum behind the current growth strategies:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Strengthening core developed market business.?Maintaining strong developing market momentum.? Building and leveraging a strong innovation pipeline.?Driving cost savings and productivity improvements.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I will be getting up to speed on the business in the next several weeks. In the meantime, here are a few of my core beliefs:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The consumer is boss -- at the heart of everything we do. ?We create and build brands that improve consumers’ lives.?Innovation is our lifeblood.?Every P&amp;Ger is an owner and a leader -- we are one team, with one dream, collaborating internally and competing externally. <br />I look forward to working with you in the days and weeks ahead.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Best,</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">A.G. </p>

P&G CEO Bob McDonald Steps Down After Pressure From Bill Ackman, Activist Investor

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG said it's bracing for an ongoing decline in commercial real estate.</li><li>It called the downturn "the greatest real estate crisis since the financial crisis." </li></ul><p>Signs of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-outlook-office-buildings-vacancies-commerical-markets-investors-remote-2024-1">commercial real estate distress</a> continue to mount, with the latest warning coming from German lending giant Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG. </p><p>In a statement last week that followed <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-06/deutsche-pbb-bonds-suffer-record-drop-as-us-property-fears-mount" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a slump in the price of its bonds</a>, the bank likened the current property market crisis to the real estate catastrophe that roiled global markets 16 years ago. It said it shored up its risk provisioning for the year ahead with as much as $231.7 million set aside to deal with pain across the real estate sector. </p><p>"Despite these expenses, pbb remains profitable thanks to its financial strength – even in the greatest real estate crisis since the financial crisis," the bank said in a <a href="https://www.pfandbriefbank.com/en/media/press/detail/pbb-fulfils-2023-earnings-guidance.html">statement</a> February 7.</p><p>The German bank said it has enough cash and assets to withstand the turmoil, and that it can operate for six months without fresh funding from investors.</p><p>The bank said its "liquidity coverage ratio," which refers to its ability to pay off short-term obligations, is double the regulatory requirement, and it plans to publish further details in March. </p><p>Commercial real estate fears have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/commercial-real-estate-crash-bank-losses-interest-rates-2024-2023-12">swirled worldwide</a> in the last year as central banks hold interest rates higher than they've been for the last decade and work-from-home trends crush the values of office properties. </p><p>In the US, Moody's Analytics reported that the national office vacancy rate hit a record 19.6% in the final quarter of 2023, about 280 basis points above pre-pandemic levels.</p><p>"Despite the increasingly optimistic consensus on the likelihood of a macroeconomic soft landing along with positive news from the labor market, the permanence of dynamic hybrid models has effectively muted office demand, making the year of 2023 the most downbeat since the Great Financial Crisis," Moody's strategists wrote in a January note.</p><p>For similar reasons, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-outlook-commerical-residential-offices-resiclub-real-estate-mortgage-2024-2">office-to-residential conversions have spiked 357%</a> in the last three years, a <a href="https://www.resiclubanalytics.com/p/20-housing-markets-planned-officetoapartment-conversions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ResiClub</a> analysis said on February 5.</p><p>To that point, more than $150 billion of mortgages on US office buildings are set to mature in 2024, and about $300 billion are due in 2026, according to CommericalEdge. Landlords could struggle to refinance that debt as they deal with higher interest rates and lower property valuations. </p>

A German bank says it's preparing for the worst property crisis since '08 as commercial real estate distress spreads

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Brendan McDermid</span></p><p class="caption">Activist investor Bill Ackman, chief executive of Pershing Square walks on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange November 10, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Bill Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, has boosted its stake in Valeant to 9.9% from 5.7%, according to an <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885590/000119312515385412/d68063dsc13da.htm">SEC filing</a>.</p><p>The firm raised its holdings to 34,118,551 according to the filing, up by 14,644,618 shares. (We'll address the dynamics of this trade a little later.)</p><h2>Valeant</h2><p>Valeant's stock has plunged over the past few months, putting an end to a seeming inexorable rise in the company's share price.</p><p>It moved from $26.30 October 22, 2011, to a high of $262.50 in August 2015.</p><p>But the past couple of months have been tough for the Canadian pharmaceutical company.</p><p>In September, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-62-year-old-drug-just-rose-in-price-by-5455-and-its-getting-hillary-clintons-attention-2015-9">Hillary Clinton tweeted her disdain</a> for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-price-gouging-2015-11">price gouging</a> - or the practice of raising the price of a drug that's gone off patent. Then, short-seller Citron released a incendiary report on the company.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-have-valeant-pharmaceuticals-shares-collapsed-2015-11">The stock has tumbled since</a>.</p><p>Valeant is Pershing Square's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-ackman-largest-shareholder-of-valeant-2015-9">largest holding</a>.</p><h2>The new trade</h2><p>Now, Ackman and Pershing Square didn't just go to the bank, withdraw some cash, and buy stock on the market. He employed a couple of options trades, which we'll quickly address.</p><p>In summary, his new 14,644,618 shares is a combination of 2,144,618 shares of common stock and American-style call options, which he can exercise and get 12,500,000 shares. Some of these options will expire on February 8, 2016 and the rest will expire on January 20, 2017.</p><p>They're called "American-style" options because they can be exercised anytime from now until the options expire. That differs from "European-style" options, which can only be exercised at their expiration date. All things being equal, American-style options command a higher premium because of that flexibility.</p><p>Great. And now, onto the other half of the trade.</p><p>Ackman also sold European-style call options and European-style put options exposed to 12,500,000 shares. Some expire on February 8, 2016 and the rest expire January 20, 2017.</p><p>Why is Ackman selling options? Presumably, it's for the income he'll get up front for selling, or writing, those options, which - as we mentioned earlier - can't be exercised until they mature because they're European.  He's probably using that income to help finance his new long position (the 2,144,618 shares of commons stock and the options). And because he sold both calls and puts, one side of that trade will offset at least some of the other side of that trade.</p><p>Here's the unedited language from the filing:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">The Reporting Persons purchased for the accounts of the Pershing Square Funds a net amount of 2,144,618 shares of Common Stock and over-the-counter American-style call options referencing 12,500,000 shares of Common Stock for aggregate consideration of $475,461,812 (including commissions). In addition, the Reporting Persons sold for the accounts of the Pershing Square Funds over-the-counter European-style call options and over-the-counter European-style put options, each call and put referencing a total of 12,500,000 shares of Common Stock and received aggregate consideration of $168,966,200...</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">...The Reporting Persons acquired American-style over-the-counter call options referencing 12,500,000 shares of the Issuer with Expiration Dates of February 8, 2016 and January 20, 2017. In addition, the Reporting Persons sold over-the-counter European-style call options and over-the-counter European-style put options, each call and put referencing a total of 12,500,000 shares of the Issuer with Expiration Dates of February 8, 2016 and January 20, 2017. The counterparties to such over-the-counter options are Nomura International PLC and UBS AG.</p><p>So, that's hedge funds for you.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/secrets-wall-street-slavery-terrorism-hidden-vaults-finance-stock-exchange-2015-10">The secrets of Wall Street: slavery, terrorism, and hidden vaults </a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="M4cmUxeDrzrsToQqtxZ01y-f5fZbS0kS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Bill Ackman just boosted his stake in Valeant to 9.9% from 5.7%

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The White House's released its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-trump-budget-defense-spending-a-priority-over-agency-money-2017-3">proposed 2018 budget Thursday</a>: a grindstone that would strip financial mass from agencies across the federal government in order to add $52 billion to the military.</p><p>No major sector of government is set to be ground down more than the Environmental Protection Agency.</p><p>If Congress were to enact Trump's proposal as written, the EPA would lose $2.6 billion out of its current $8.1 billion in funding - a 32.1% slash to the agency that would pay for 5% of the boost to the Department of Defense.</p><p>Here's what the EPA cuts would actually mean for people, states, and tribes all over the country.</p><h2>Many local cleanups would grind to a halt</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>One of the most visible ways the EPA spends its money and human resources is on the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative - a massive project to clean up dangerously contaminated land and make it fit for human use again.</p><p>There are 1,337 active Superfund sites all over the country, and they aren't limited to any one kind of place or community.</p><p>The <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0206222">Gowanus Canal </a>in Brooklyn, New York, where factories and sewers dumped waste for decades in the 19th and 20th Centuries, is a Superfund site. So is the old <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0801674">Jacobs Smelter</a> site in Rush Valley, Utah, where heavy metals entered the soil over the course of decades of mining.</p><p>Trump's budget would cut funding for the Superfund programs 30.2%, by $330 million - taking the budget from $1.092 billion to $762 million.</p><p>According to the White House, that money would come out of "administrative costs" and inefficiencies in the program. Neither the White House nor the EPA has offered specific evidence that Superfund dollars are going to waste. Every dollar cut from the Superfund program that doesn't come out of inefficiencies would have to come out of cleanup efforts.</p><p>Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma Attorney General who now heads the agency under Trump, <a href="http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/03/01/stories/1060050736">reportedly</a> pushed back against this move - perhaps a harbinger of further opposition from Republican members of Congress.</p><p>Reduced Superfund funding would lead to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/statetribal-correspondence-concerning-npl-site-listing">less money flowing into many deep-red communities</a>. </p><p>The $330 million cut from the Superfund program would pay for 0.6% of the boost to the military, however.</p><h2>It would become easier for polluters to get away with breaking the rules</h2><p>In addition to direct cleanup work, the EPA is responsible for writing and enforcing regulations that impact how people and industries can use resources and dump contaminants into the environment.</p><p>Trump's budget calls for a $129 million cut to the EPA's enforcement arm, dropping its funding 23.5% from $548 million to $129 million. The White House says that that cut is intended to avoid "duplication" between federal regulation enforcement and enforcement that goes on in the states.</p><p><span>Jim Ferraro and Chris Jensen,</span> environmental lawyers who spoke to Business Insider in advance of the budget announcement, said that they expected the most significant impact of budget cuts at the EPA to be less enforcement of rules that are already on the books.</p><p>In 2016, for example, sewage companies have <a href="https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/hammond-sanitary-district-clean-water-act-settlement">faced punishment</a> for dumping raw sewage into rivers that run near populated areas in Indiana. A New Mexico mining company was forced to pay for cleaning up toxic waste that was <a href="https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/case-summary-143-million-cleanup-settlement-new-mexico-mine-site">infiltrating groundwater</a>. And a Houston-based cement company was <a href="https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/cemex-inc-global-clean-air-act-settlement">forced to pay up</a> after dumping tons of dangerous nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide from five plants into the air over Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas.</p><p>Cutting the EPA's enforcement arm would mean fewer resources going into chasing down these kinds of violations.</p><p>Speaking to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/budget-reflects-trumps-vow-to-cut-epa-in-almost-every-form/2017/03/15/0611db20-09a5-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html?utm_term=.932cfa9878cf">Washington Post</a>, former EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance chief Cynthia Giles agreed: </p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>"[More cuts] won't just drastically reduce EPA enforcement, it will bring it to a halt," she said. "Not only will the staff be a shadow of its former self, the inspectors, lawyers and criminal agents who would be left would be unable to do their jobs, because these cuts would zero out the already small amount of funds used to do inspections, monitor pollution and file cases."</span></p><p><span>The EPA's budget has already shrunk by as much as 20% from its 2010 high. The further $129 million stripped from its enforcement office would pay for one-quarter of one percent (0.25%) of the military boost.</span></p><h2>Efforts to reduce and prepare the country for the impacts of climate change would evaporate </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The biggest headline-grabbing elimination in the Trump budget for the EPA is funding for the Clean Power Plan.</p><p>That's the major Obama-era initiative to set individual targets for reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in 47 states.</p><p>(Hawaii, Alaska, and Vermont are not included, because they don't have power plants of the kind regulated under the plan.)</p><p>The Clean Power Plan is a key part of existing plans to fulfill several international commitments to reduce the nation's carbon footprint. But it's not all of what Trump is proposing to cut from the agency's climate efforts.</p><p>The White House proposes cutting the "Clean Power Plan, international climate change programs, climate<br>change research and partnership programs, and related efforts" to the tune of $100 million. That expansive language seems to include funds involved in the vast majority of local grants the EPA puts out.</br></p><p>Unlike NASA, which studies and puts out data on the physics and dynamics of climate change, or NOAA, which follows weather impacts, the EPA climate programs tend to be hyperlocal, narrow in scope, and pragmatic. They include coastal efforts to help beachside towns and cities protect themselves from rising sea levels; conservation programs to help states mitigate environmental changes that can hurt anything from crops to drinking water; funds for tribes to help them predict and adapt to changing and potentially dangerous weather conditions.</p><p>These are grants that are often measured in thousands of dollars, not millions.</p><p>The most widely-felt and immediate effect of taking all that money away would be a sudden end to efforts underway all over the country to help local communities adapt to the changing climate. Down the road, it will mean that dangerous climate effects might be less understood, because they haven't been studied in advance, and more intense, because communities haven't prepared for them.</p><p>Trump expects to save $100 million by slashing these programs, which would pay for 0.19% of the boost to military spending.</p><h2><keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> funding would dry up - but those cuts wouldn't just impact scientists</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>These budget cuts are bad news for certain scientists. But the science cuts' sharpest impacts won't be to universities or labs.</p><p>The EPA doesn't actually fund that much basic research, especially when compared to, say, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes for Health, NASA, or even the military.</p><p>When the agency does fund science, it's almost always tied to a specific cleanup effort.</p><p>For example: The Trump budget proposes to close down regional cleanup efforts, like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, which involve areas spanning multiple states. (Worth noting: Pruitt <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trumps-nominee-to-head-epa-has-opposed-the-chesapeake-bay-cleanup/2017/01/16/a881d408-d90a-11e6-b8b2-cb5164beba6b_story.html?utm_term=.8f4fcb33d6bf">opposed the Chesapeake Bay cleanup </a>when he was still Oklahoma AG.) </p><p>One of the largest science grants the EPA gives out is tied to the Great Lakes initiative - $10 million to a program based at Central Michigan University that employs more than 150 people to study coastal wetlands around all of the Great Lakes.</p><p>Donald Uzarski, a CMU biologist who heads the program, wrote in an email to Business Insider that the multi-state program has made first-of-its-kind discoveries about the Great Lakes ecosystem. For example, the wetlands play a critical role in regulating algae growth, which can contaminate drinking water when it gets out of hand. That information feeds into cleanup and restoration efforts at the local level.</p><p>"Many of the scientists working on this program are not only subsidizing the work from other sources of funding, but even paying for some of it out of our own pockets. It is that important," Uzarski wrote.</p><p>Without federal oversight and funding, it's not clear that the restoration initiative would survive. </p><p>"The lakes span eight states," he wrote. "No progress is made when four states go in one direction and the other four go in the opposite direction."</p><p>Cutting Uzarski's grant, which is paid out over five years and subject to strict auditing, would pay for 0.004% (four-thousandths of one percent) of the military buildup.</p><p>Cutting all of the regional cleanup programs - a $427 million savings - would pay for 0.8% of the military buildup, or eight-tenths of one percent.</p><h2>Trump wants to eliminate what he calls "poorly performing" programs </h2><p>The final and strangest bullet in the Trump budget outline targets more than 50 "lower priority and poorly performing" programs for complete elimination.</p><p>Examples include Energy Star, Targeted Airshed Grants, the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, and infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native Villages and the Mexico Border.</p><p>It's hard to say what unifies these programs.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>In Alaska, some rural and native communities often go without clean water and sanitation - that is, it can be difficult to find water to drink that doesn't have feces in it - because they don't have indoor plumbing. The EPA's infrastructure program funds <a href="https://www.epa.gov/small-and-rural-wastewater-systems/alaska-native-villages-and-rural-communities-water-grant-program">projects to build indoor plumbing</a>. The grants tend to be small,<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/anv_funding_levels_.pdf"> just over $1 million on average to a community</a>, and are audited according to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-07/documents/anv_guidelines_revised_2016_07_05_16.pdf">strict guidelines</a>.</p><p>In 2016, the program funded 10 projects to the tune of $20 million - up from 2015's $10 million. Cutting the program will pay for 0.04% of the boost in military spending.</p><p>Another program that Trump would eliminate is Energy Star.</p><p>Energy Star is a pretty straightforward program, and it's been around since 1992. It's not involved in any regulations; rather, companies have the option to have their products certified as energy efficient, and then mark them with a little blue Energy Star symbol to let consumers know that they've passed the optional test.</p><p>Energy Star also works with companies and government organizations to help them with energy efficiency programs - again, all optional.</p><p>The EPA estimates that in addition to preventing 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere, Energy Star has saved consumers $362 billion on their electric bills.</p><p>It's not immediately clear why Trump considers it lower priority or poorly performing.</p><p>Altogether, the White House estimates cutting these 50-plus programs will save $347 million, or 0.7% of the boost in military spending.</p><h2>What does all of this mean?</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>It's important to keep in mind that a president does not have the power to turn a budget proposal into the actual federal budget all on his own.</p><p>In order to do that, Congress - including both the House and the Senate - has to get on board, or put up an alternative that Trump would be willing to sign.</p><p>With a Republican president and a Republican Congress, you might expect that the two branches wouldn't have too much trouble agreeing on basic terms. Republicans in all branches of government haven't exactly been fans of the EPA in recent years (though the agency was created under a Republican president).</p><p>The question will be how far Republican congresspeople will go to protect funding for their states and communities from a Republican White House. And, on the other side of the same coin, how much power does Trump's White House have to move through its priorities?</p><p>We'll get answers to those questions as the fight over the budget moves to Congress.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arctic-sea-ice-thinner-past-26-years-foreboding-animation-noaa-video-2016-12">This startling animation shows how much Arctic sea ice has thinned in just 26 years</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Jqb2k5ODE619TsBzQ3m8ryeVKgcEyosd" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "ag dynamic funds" and got 4 results

P&G CEO Bob McDonald Steps Down After Pressure From Bill Ackman, Activist Investor

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A German bank says it's preparing for the worst property crisis since '08 as commercial real estate distress spreads

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Bill Ackman just boosted his stake in Valeant to 9.9% from 5.7%

Portia Crowe,Sam Ro

Trump wants to take $2.6 billion away from the EPA - and the cuts will hit small towns the hardest

Rafi Letzter

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