#White House waives ethics rules to hire former union leaders

The White House is drawing ire as President Joe Biden continues to waive federal ethics rules to place former union leaders in top government positions.

Last week, the White House excused new Made in America Office leader Celeste Drake from restrictions that would have barred her from communicating with former employers the AFL-CIO and Directors Guild of America, according to Axios.

In March, the Office of Personnel Management waived ethics requirements for its new director of intergovernmental affairs, Alethea Predeoux, a former lobbyist for the American Federation of Government Employees, the outlet said.

Republicans have blasted the Democratic administration’s decision to circumvent the ethics requirements.

“The pattern of corruption between Democrats and big union bosses is obvious – just follow the money and follow the staff,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Katharine Cooksey told Fox News on Saturday.

Biden’s campaign pledge to bolster unions has increasingly come under fire by Republicans who claim the White House is obligated to labor organizations.

Last week, an exclusive report in The Post found that The American Federation of Teachers lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the government’s February school reopening guidelines.

The high-powered lobbying worked. In at least two instances, language “suggestions” offered by the union were adopted nearly verbatim into the final text of the CDC document.

The same AFT political action committee gave more than $1.6 million to Democratic campaigns and committees, FEC filings show.

“Since the very first day of the Biden administration, every single Democrat has echoed the same union-approved talking points to keep schools closed and to jam a radical, job-killing agenda through Congress,” Cooksey reportedly said. “While Republicans are working to get kids back in the classrooms and the economy moving again, Democrats are taking orders from their bosses at the unions to keep schools closed and stifle job opportunities.”