Feds do not receive pay based on inflation. Retirees do.
I believe the law you refer to is the 1990 Pay Comparability ACT. This was supposed to allow us to catch up with the private sector. It is the president who suspends this and has suspended it since it was to go into effect.
The non feds were hurt due to the George Bush and the Republican Depression. I agree with you that our jobs should be compared to the same private sector jobs and not to an unemployed non fed or a hamburger flipper. The Republicans do not realize this as it hurts their positions on the issue.