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House GOP Assembles Task Force on National Security

Rep. Peter King (N.Y.) has been tapped to lead a new Republican task force that will develop solutions to what the party believes are the country’s most pressing national security issues.

King, the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement on Thursday that the National Security Solutions Group would look to create policies that protect Americans from security threats at home and abroad.

“Keeping the American people safe and secure must be the number one mission of our federal government,” King said in the statement. “We must ensure that Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration do what is necessary to keep the nation secure, including properly funding our troops and keeping terrorists out of America.”

The National Security Solutions Group is the latest in a series of working groups created by House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) to craft Republican responses to health care reform, energy, the economy, rural issues, state issues, savings and transparency.

Boehner said in a statement on Thursday that the ideas from these groups will be used to “complement and support” the ideas that will eventually become the “Commitment to America,” a new GOP agenda. Chief Deputy Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is leading the drafting of the Commitment to America, promising to collect input from citizens around the country.

“Peter King is uniquely qualified to chair this Solutions Group, and I’m pleased he will be working with Kevin McCarthy in the weeks and months ahead to engage the American people and put forth common-sense solutions to keep them safe,” Boehner said in a statement.

“The American people don’t believe Congress is working for them or even listening to them,” McCarthy said in a statement. “They will allow us to engage people to find out what is important to them and then use those ideas to produce strong, smart policies that Americans support.”

Republicans who will join King on the security task force include Armed Services ranking member Buck McKeon (Calif.), Intelligence ranking member Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), Foreign Affairs ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis (Calif.), Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith (Texas), and Reps. Mike Conaway (Texas), Charlie Dent (Pa.), Trent Franks (Ariz.), Duncan Hunter (Calif.), Candice Miller (Mich.), Jeff Miller (Fla.), Sue Myrick (N.C.), Hal Rogers (Ky.), Mike Rogers (Mich.), Edward Royce (Calif.), Mac Thornberry (Texas) and Frank Wolf (Va.).

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