"The Pentagon now consumes more than half the federal discretionary budget, leaving priorities like public health, environmental protection, job training, and education to compete for what remains. In 2020, Lockheed Martin received $75 billion in Pentagon contracts, more than the entire budget of the State Department and the Agency for International Development combined," noted The Nation, adding that just one component of the defence budget, the F-35 fighter plane, equals the full budget of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).