Not Minding the Gap

I'm not going to make a judgement on whether the 2.0 percent pay increase is the right one or not. But this statement from the White House, "the 2010 pay increase for Federal civilian employees, 2.0 percent, is responsive to the current economic climate, bringing Federal pay and benefit practices more in line with the private sector," does seem to ENTIRELY ignore that a gap exists between public and private sector pay. It's probably just bad phrasing. But the phrasing seems a little clueless.