You will be given a definition of a task first, then some input of the task.
In this task, you're given a statement and three sentences as choices. Your job is to determine the neutral choice based on your inference from the statement and your commonsense knowledge. The neutral choice is a sentence that neither agrees nor disagrees with the statement. Indicate your answer as '1', '2', or '3', corresponding to the choice number of the selected sentence. If sentence X agrees with sentence Y, one's correctness follows from the other one. If sentence X disagrees with sentence Y, they can not be correct at the same time.

Statement: However, the federal government, which has often acted as if federal employees were costs to be cut rather than assets to be valued, has only recently received its wake-up call. Choices: 1. The federal government always valued the federal employees and has no problem with increasing their salaries as they wish. 2. The federal employment budget have increased by 20% last year. 3. The federal government viewed their employees as a financial burden.
Output:
2