Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz and long-serving Democrat senator Diane Feinstein got into a verbal salvo in Congress on Wednesday over a proposal to protest against alleged human rights abuses in China by naming a street in Washington after a Chinese dissident.

This is the second time in less than two months that Texas senator Cruz is forwarding a bill to rename the street in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington "Liu Xiaobo Plaza." Both times the legislation has failed to get the needed majority votes.

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This contentious legislation is the brain child of retired Republican congressman Frank Wolf. It was initially proposed in 2014 and won the approval of the House Appropriations Committee.

Had the legislation won the approval of the house, it would have effectively changed the address of the Chinese Embassy in Washington from 3505 International Place NW to "1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza." Many pundits have warned that this would sour the relations between officials in Washington and Beijing.

Liu, a Noble Prize award winner, is a renowned activist and critic of the Chinese government. In 2009, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion against the government.

Texas Senator Cruz defended his bid to get the legislation passed as an act of solidarity with "wrongfully imprisoned dissidents around the world."

However, California Senator Feinstein argued that the move would be retrogressive to any attempts by U.S. authorities to organize negotiations with China. She instead advocated for talks with China, saying from experience this tact has been more successful.

This did not go down so well with Cruz, who accused Feinstein of siding with the Communist Party of China.

It is almost without question that Chinese authorities will not be happy with the move to name the street that its embassy sits on after a man officials have described as a "criminal." Given the spiraling tensions in the South China Sea between China and the U.S., some experts have warned that the passage of this bill could be the proverbial straw that sends deep cracks into diplomatic ties between both countries.

TagsLiu Xiaobo Plaza, Xiu Xiaobo Street Washington, China-U.S. relations, Ted Cruz China, Diane Feinstein China