Axios

Hours after Trump struck a deal with Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on the debt ceiling Trump invited Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who's up for reelection in her red state next year, to the stage with him in Bismarck, North Dakota. Most of his speech focused on cutting taxes and "getting the government out of the way." The highlights:

• "We need a tax code that is simple, fair, and easy to understand, unlike what we have." Trump called out H&R Block and tax preparing services for how much money they make to illustrate that it's not easy for most Americans to file their taxes.
• "We will cut the business tax rate as much as possible."
• Trump wants to lower rates for middle income families: Trump said he is focused on "raising the standard deduction, increasing the child tax credit," and lowering taxes for the middle class. He added, "we are not going to allow" the estate tax "to crush the American Dream."

Bonus Trump:

• Trump asked the audience whether they preferred the phrase "Made in America" or "Made in the U.S.A.", and when Made in the U.S.A. got a louder response, he seemed to settle on the latter.
• On how everyone left the White House meeting on the debt ceiling today: "not too happy because you can never be too happy."
• On healthcare: "Believe me we haven't given up on healthcare."

Early Wednesday morning Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm, made landfall in the Caribbean, first slamming into Antigua and Barbuda before moving over St. Martin, Anguilla and parts of the British Virgin Islands. It's now barreling toward Puerto Rico, and is expect to hit just north of the island Wednesday afternoon. Irma's heavy rain and strong winds, which have reached a sustained maximum of 185 mph, have made it the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic.

Irma's trajectory: The storm, which the National Hurricane Center has declared "potentially catastrophic," is expected to hit Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos, and Cuba before reaching Florida and the Southeast U.S. this weekend, at which point it's expected to weaken to a Category 4 hurricane.

Meanwhile, two other storms are also building momentum in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Jose is expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday night, and Tropical Storm Katia is strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., are suing the Trump administration in the Eastern District of New York over his decision to end the DACA program, protecting young immigrants from deportation, per the AP.

• The plaintiffs: New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
• While there's been a lot of talk that DACA is unconstitutional, that point has never actually been decided in a federal court. And the suit is headed by Washington's attorney general Bob Ferguson, who similarly took the lead on a multi-state suit against Trump's travel ban.

President Trump backed the Democratic plan to combine Harvey relief funding with extending the debt limit and funding the government, both for three months, after a meeting with congressional leaders from both parties. The Republicans in the meeting opposed that plan.

A Republican close to leadership: "Dems bluffed their way into total victory. They win the politics of DACA and leverage on debt in the winter. The fate is sealed - DACA will be reauthorized without strings, Schumer has inserted himself into all negotiations in the winter, including tax, spending and immigration."

Latest: Mitch McConnell says he supports the plan, and will attach the continuing resolution and debt ceiling raise to the Harvey bill as an amendment.

While boarding Marine One Wednesday, President Trump told reporters that he had a "very good phone call" with President Xi Jinping of China regarding the escalating North Korean threat, per White House pool reports.

• "It lasted for a long time. President Xi would like to do something. We'll see whether or not he can do it."
• "We will not be putting up with what's happening in North Korea. I believe that President Xi agrees with me 100%. He doesn't want to see what's happening there, either. We had a very, very frank and very strong phone call."
• So is he considering military action? "We're going to see what happens. We'll see what happens. Certainly, that's not our first choice, but we will see what happens."

The House overwhelmingly passed a $7.9 billion funding package to aid Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts Wednesday, per CNN.

• The bill is now off to the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to attach a measure to raise the debt ceiling. They will then vote on the package and send it back to the House for a final vote, which is expected by the end of the week.
• The bulk of funding, $7.4 billion, will go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund, which FEMA has said is rapidly running out of resources.
• The other $450 million will go to the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program.

When asked about Dreamers' future in America Wednesday morning, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan told reporters, "I think people should rest easy," apparently echoing Trump's April comment that Dreamers should "rest easy."

Why it matters: That's putting a lot of pressure on Congress, which is tasked with coming up with a legislative solution before permits will be allowed to expire — starting on March 5.

Be smart: For Ryan, the way forward on DACA is about the border, since he said the problems with DACA stem in part from U.S. borders remaining unsecured. He added he believes if a bill has Trump's support, he is "confident" his caucus will put it through.

Senate Minority Leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that Democrats would vote for a Hurricane Harvey relief bill that involves a three-month debt-ceiling increase:

"Democrats are prepared to offer our votes for the Harvey aid package, and a short term debt limit increase of three months. Given Republican difficulty in finding votes for their plan, we believe this proposal offers a bipartisan path forward to ensure prompt delivery of Harvey aid as well as avoiding a default, while both sides work together to address government funding, DREAMers, and health care."

House Speaker Paul Ryan shot back in his Wednesday briefing, calling their proposal "ridiculous and disgraceful": "To play politics with the debt ceiling like Schumer and Pelosi I don't think is a good idea... it puts in jeopardy the kind of hurricane response we need to have."

A majority of Americans support allowing DREAMers to stay in the United States and become citizens provided they meet certain requirements, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll.

• By the numbers: 58% supported allowing DREAMers to become citizens while another 18% thought they should be allowed to become legal residents but not become citizens. Just 15% believed that DREAMers should be deported or removed from the U.S.
• More widely: Those numbers carried over to illegal immigrants more generally, too. 49% believed they should stay and become citizens and 21% wanted them to stay and become legal residents — only 22% supported deportation or removal.
• Why it matters: President Trump's decision to wind down DACA and push immigration reform to the forefront of an already packed congressional calendar looks set to highlight one of the rare issues that doesn't break down purely by party affiliation.

President Trump owns a multi-million dollar, beach-front mansion named le Château des Palmiers on the Caribbean island of St. Martin — and it's directly in the path of Category 5 Hurricane Irma, according to the Miami Herald. Trump is trying to sell the 11-bedroom mansion, which he owns via a trust to avoid conflicts of interest. The selling price dropped from from $28 million to $16.9 million last month.

Remember, Trump also owns several other properties in Florida, including the "Winter White House" Mar-a-Lago, which could sustain damage from the hurricane.

A bipartisan group of senators plans to introduce a resolution that "[rejects] white nationalists, white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups" and send the document to President Trump's desk, per Politico.

• The sponsors: Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Republican Sens. Cory Gardner and Johnny Isakson
• The mechanism: The Senate often takes up symbolic resolutions — honoring people on their birthdays, for example — that don't reach the president's desk. However, the senators behind this one have chosen to style it as a joint resolution, meaning it will require Trump's signature.
• Why it matters: It forces Trump to go on the record condemning hate groups — something he halfheartedly did in the days after Charlottesville.