It's not that I'm surprised
It's that it never ceases to amaze me how short-sighted our American government is (Republican and Democrat).
These people are supposed to ADMINISTRATE. If you (generic you, not you you :-) worked for a corporation and were the administrator of it (i.e. CEO or President or whatever) and failed to anticipate some big items, i.e. that the VA would need an influx of funds and personnel to deal with wounded soldiers, that items needed to fight a war were not available at the outset, that the # of troops available were insufficient, etc., you'd have your ass fired. And deservedly so.