House Republicans have set up a GOP-only House Cybersecurity Task Force, announced Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) in a June 24 statement.

The task force, to be led by Thornberry, will focus specifically on the issues of information-sharing, critical infrastructure and domestic legal frameworks, as well as evaluate the Obama administration's May 12 cybersecurity proposal. The task force will report back to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in October.

A press release describes the 12-member task force as a "broad cross-section of the House Republican Conference and the committees of jurisdiction on the issue of cyber security."

"I am deeply disappointed in this decision," said Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) in a June 27 statement. Langevin condemned Boehner's decision to stand up a Republican-only task force, saying he had twice reached out to the speaker to offer his expertise in the subject area and urged him to address cybersecurity in a bipartisan fashion.

Since 2009 there have been over 20 cybersecurity proposals in the House and Senate and analysts recently observed that the White House proposal draws heavily from two Senate proposals: the Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)-Sen. Olympia Snowe (R.-Me.) bill (S. 773) and the Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)-Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.) bill (S. 3480).

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