. . .One Texas-based donor warned Republican lawmakers that his “Dallas piggy bank” was now closed, until he saw legislative progress.

“Get Obamacare repealed and replaced, get tax reform passed,” said Doug Deason. “Get it done and we’ll open it back up.”

Nonetheless, Koch officials said that the network’s midterm budget for policy and politics is between $300m and $400m.

“There is urgency,” said Tim Phillips, who leads Koch network’s political arm, Americans for Prosperity, at the industrialist brothers’ retreat in Colorado Springs. “We believe we have a window of about 12 months to get as much of it accomplished as possible before the 2018 elections grind policy to a halt.”

. . .

In between meetings, Dave Brat, a Virginia Republican representative, predicted dire consequences in next year’s midterm elections should his party fail to deliver on its repeated promises.

“If we don’t get healthcare, none of us are coming back,” he said in a brief interview. “We said for seven years you’re gonna repeal Obamacare. It’s nowhere near repealed.”

It’s the same for tax reform, Brat said: “We don’t get taxes through, we’re all going home. Pack the bags.”

There was a sense of deep frustration from conservative officials and donors alike, decrying the pace of progress in Washington with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.

Deason has already informed a handful of congressional Republicans that the “Dallas piggy bank” is closed until he sees more action. He said he was recently approached by congressmen Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio about hosting a fundraiser.

“I said, ‘No I’m not going to because we’re closing the checkbook until you get some things done,’” Deason said, noting he’s encouraged nearly two dozen major Texas donors to follow his lead.