Hardworking Virginia family struggles to achieve American dream

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• Geoff Bennett:

  In recent months, headlines have been dominated by news that directly affects people's lives, from the new tax cut and Medicaid law to near daily updates on the economy. But those headlines don't always capture the everyday reality for millions of Americans who are just trying to get.

  To better understand that reality, our Lisa Desjardins traveled to Virginia's Blue Ridge region, where one hardworking family is struggling to make ends meet.

  Andrew Tait, Farmer and Factory Worker: Currently, I work full time as a factory worker. When I'm not at the factory, I work full time as a farmer here. There's no days to not take care of your animals. They need you, zero degrees outside, every day, when it's pouring down rain, every day.

  When I'm not doing that, I'm trying to be a father. I'm trying to be a partner. I'm trying to be something that my family can be proud of. I'm trying to be a provider.

  Hannah Coogan, Farmer and Caregiver: Yes, I mean, I have always wanted to do this and get my own little place and my own little farmhouse.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  What Andrew Tait and his partner, Hannah Coogan, are trying to do seems simple, but often is a struggle, build their-five acre farm in Virginia…

• Hannah Coogan:

  Excuse me. Excuse me.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  … into a better life by hand, with humor and often with a baby, Astrid (ph), strapped in front.

• Andrew Tait:

  That carrying device is fantastic, but I look forward to when she can walk on her own, maybe even like haul a water bucket or two. That'd be nice.

  (Laughter)

• Andrew Tait:

  I suppose it would be easy to carry up the hill that way.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  But that dream of hard work paying off is getting harder.

• Hannah Coogan:

  It's a lot to juggle, yes, always trying to find ways to like slim down the budget and make things fit. It's definitely hard to get it all done wearing the baby sometimes too. She's getting heavier.

• Andrew Tait:

  Can I go first?

• Hannah Coogan:

  OK.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  They vote Democratic, but otherwise aren't political. Livestock outnumber people here and mouths need feeding, not debating.

• Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):

  The yeas are 218, the nays are 214. The motion is adopted.

  (Cheering)

• Lisa Desjardins:

  But the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, with its tax cuts and Medicaid cuts shifted something for Andrew. He wrote a letter to his local paper.

• Andrew Tait:

  "The reason why we're all here, I'm not ashamed of our life. It's honest work, and it's full of love. However, I am ashamed that in a country as wealthy as ours, people like us are left out in the cold."

  It was kind of just a way of processing my emotion, I guess you would say, or trying to make sense of it.

• Hannah Coogan:

  He definitely took the plunge, when I was not brave enough to do that, even though I have the same feelings. So…

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Feelings that for all the talk about working families, no one is really in their corner.

  Is it harder than it should be to do what you're doing?

• Hannah Coogan:

  I think it should be more fruitful. We will say that.

• Andrew Tait:

  I feel lucky. I feel like I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a mortgage. I have this place. I feel like I'm better off than a lot of people. And that's messed up. There's so many people that are struggling worse than we are. How are they doing it? I don't know how we're even getting by.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  They just get by because Andrew farms and works at a factory full-time, while Hannah runs the farm, homeschools their older daughter, and carefully budgets. And they get by staying unmarried.

• Andrew Tait:

  I mean, the biggest thing for me is my girls and my partner and their health insurance. We're on — they're on Medicaid.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  If they got married, the combined income would disqualify Hannah and the girls for Medicaid. And they can't afford insurance through his job. It would cost more than their mortgage.

• Andrew Tait:

  We have been engaged now for a better part of three, almost four years. I love you, babe, but, like, it's just — it's not fair. It's not fair.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  What do you think of the fact that both parties say they are the party of the working class?

• Andrew Tait:

  I'm not seeing it. I'm not seeing representation. The people in my life, my co-workers, my family members, everybody I know is struggling, everybody. I want people to be OK. I want my neighbors to be OK. And I don't think that's Democratic or Republican.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  He follows the news and sees both parties in Washington failing people like him.

• Andrew Tait:

  Once you go down through it, all these buzzwords that sound so impactful and helpful to working families seem to just get whittled away through bureaucracy.

  Some of them probably don't know how hard it truly is. And I think that it's more about staying in power.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Andrew and Hannah are the family so many politicians talk about, but they feel ignored.

  So what do you want to happen for you and your family? What are your next goals?

• Andrew Tait:

  Get ready for winter. That's coming up soon. Got some fences to fix. Getting a well would be huge for us. That's something I have been saving for, for a couple of years now and having freshwater for my family. And, for me, find a way to just win the rat race, if you can, make enough money to finally afford health insurance. Like, will the cost of living be just continually out of reach?

  But, yes, I mean, just trying to not just survive, but prosper.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Andy hopes that's possible before Astrid knows there ever was a struggle.

  For the "PBS News Hour" in Mount Jackson, Virginia, I'm Lisa Desjardins.