Week in Review: Never Forget Their Sacrifice

This Memorial Day weekend, we pause to honor the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our liberty.

Generation after generation, brave American men and women have stood firm against tyranny, oppression, and those who would extinguish freedom. We are eternally grateful to those who laid down their lives for a cause greater than themselves—so that we might continue to live free.

We honor them this Memorial Day, and every day. Their service, sacrifice, and legacy will never be forgotten.

Two More States Enact the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments

The movement for medical freedom notched two major victories this week. In Colorado and Iowa, governors signed the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voted to give patients battling rare diseases the right to pursue innovative therapies tailored to an individual’s DNA.

Colorado’s HB1270 passed unanimously and was signed by Gov. Jared Polis. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF233 into law after it passed with strong bipartisan support. Both laws reflect the same urgent truth: The FDA’s “one-size-fits-all” model is failing, as 95% of rare diseases lack FDA-approved treatments.

These reforms build on the original Right to Try—pioneered by the Goldwater Institute and now federal law—by going even further to legalize access to individualized, genetic-based treatments that can’t go through traditional clinical trials. For patients like Elijah Stacy, who lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, this is a shot at life. For lawmakers, it’s a rare display of unity on an issue that transcends politics.

Read more about the victories here and here.

DC-Style Waste, Now in Phoenix

Arizona lawmakers recently uncovered that over the last five years, Phoenix has illegally funneled more than $28.5 million in taxpayer money to over 100 private organizations under categories like “Sponsorships,” “Emergency Assistance,” and even “Miscellaneous.”

If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Just as federal agencies are being exposed for treating public dollars at USAID like private slush funds, Phoenix bureaucrats have been caught following the same playbook.

There’s no lawful authority for these payouts. Yet city officials claim that an outdated ordinance allows staff to distribute up to $32,000 per group—with no oversight, no public input, and no legal foundation. The Goldwater Institute is now demanding accountability, urging Attorney General Kris Mayes to shut down the city’s unlawful spending spree. When government insiders treat taxpayer money like Monopoly money, Goldwater steps in to defend the public.

Read more here.