This is a tricky bill, because the objectionable provisions contain language that rallies opposition from both left and right. The Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy group that is left of center on issues like online privacy and Net neutrality, raised major objections to the section of the bill that would authorize the Commerce Department to act outside existing privacy laws in the face of the cyber emergency.

On the other side, the rather conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute issued a five-alarm bulletin today in response to the latest report that the cyber-emergency provisions would likely remain in the reworked bill.

"From American telecommunications to the power grid, virtually anything networked to some other computer is potentially fair game to Obama to exercise 'emergency powers,'" CEI's Wayne Crews said in a statement that read as if today was the first he'd heard of the controversial provisions in the bill. "Policy makers should be suspicious of proposals to collectivize and centralize cybersecurity risk management, especially in frontier industries like information technology."

Perhaps, though I think that "collectivize" is a bit of hyperbole. Leaving aside for a moment the merits and extent of the cyber-emergency powers -- we'll hear plenty more about that when the committee begins considering the bill -- no one should be surprised that they're still in the bill.

In Rockefeller and Snowe, we have two senators who have consistently warned against the absence of strong executive power in the face of cyber threats.

When President Obama announced the results of his cybersecurity review in May, he said he would create a new position in the White House that would report jointly to the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. As one would expect, Rockefeller and Snowe praised Obama for taking on the issue -- and raising its profile with a dedicated East Room speech -- but they also conveyed thinly veiled disappointment that the position wasn't farther up in the hierarchy.

"We strongly urge the President to follow through on his groundbreaking leadership on this issue by giving this 'cyber czar' the heft and authority the position requires -- this advisor should report directly to the President on all cyber matters. There is no room for error, and no room for bureaucratic turf battles. We need to act now -- the time to combat cyber terror was yesterday," the two senators said in a joint statement in May.

So even if some advocacy groups raise objections to the bill (don't they always), Rockefeller and Snowe don't seem the type to let the emergency provisions go without a fight. That fight will come as the bill moves toward markup, and we'll see where the political will is.