How Sen. Tom Coburn, a COS champion, paved the way for DOGE

The late United States senator from Oklahoma would have been proud.

Over the past several weeks, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a name previously unknown to many Americans, has dominated the news as Elon Musk and DOGE expose the agency’s reckless spending habits. Musk has revealed that the organization’s corruption is so pervasive that he and President Donald Trump have agreed “we should shut it down.”

Of course, Musk and his team may have shed new light on USAID, but the fight against the cesspool has been years in the making. Two decades ago, Dr. Tom Coburn laid the groundwork for DOGE when he blew the top off the sordid D.C. kleptocracy.

Dubbed “Dr. No” for his fierce opposition to unconstitutional government spending, Coburn, who served in the U.S. Senate from 2005 to 2015, wasted no time exposing D.C.’s rampant financial corruption. In his first year in office, following reports that USAID had funded a prostitution ring in India, Coburn proposed a government website that would allow every taxpayer to track how the government spent their money.  

“Every citizen in this country . . . should have the right to know what organizations and activities are being funded with their hard-earned tax dollars,” he said. “If enacted, this legislation will finally ensure true accountability and transparency in how the Government spends our money, which will hopefully lead to more fiscal responsibility by the Federal Government.”

A bipartisan measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, and two men who would run against each other in the 2008 presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, Coburn’s proposal was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006. The Federal Financial Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) resulted in the creation of USASpending.gov, which still exists today, helping voters keep their elected officials accountable.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to “lead to more fiscal responsibility” as Coburn had hoped. In 2015, convinced that the solution to saving America would never come from Washington, Coburn resigned from his senate seat. Shortly thereafter, he joined Convention of States as an outspoken champion for using Article V of the United States Constitution to limit federal spending, power, and terms of office — limits he knew from firsthand experience Congress would never impose on itself. 

Coburn pushed for COS until his tragic passing on March 28, 2020. When asked in 2019 why he continued to fight for fiscal responsibility despite his declining health, he answered, “Life’s intended to be a battle.”

“I’m in this to the end, whenever that is.”

Dr. Coburn may have viewed his battle in the Senate as a wasted effort, but two decades later, his campaign against USAID and wasteful government spending continues to yield results. Ultimately, his legacy reminds us that real government reformation must arise from the American people using Article V.

To honor Dr. Coburn’s heritage and urge your state legislator to use Article V to rein in the federal government, sign the Convention of States petition below.