Bin Laden death sparks new talk over Patriot Act

Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has called for a clean extension through 2013. Several Republicans have proposed just making the expiring provisions permanent.

But as the magnitude of the bin Laden operation sank in, questions arose in the Senate as well as the House.

Freshman Sen. Mike Lee, the Utah Republican whose tea party backing helped him defeat incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett in a primary, was the sole Republican to vote for Leahy's bill to tighten the Patriot Act's civil liberties protections and beef up its oversight requirements.

But this week, Lee couldn't say whether he'd vote for it on the floor. He also did not rule out voting for a straight extension.

Leahy's bill "would do a better job of protecting civil liberties and privacy than current law," Lee said in a statement. But, he said, "I will need to see how the final reform package shapes up."