What ignited controversy last summer was when one SPR shipment was delivered to an entity tied with the Chinese Communist Party. 

Now a group of bipartisan lawmakers wants to ensure America's emergency crude oil reserves are never sent to China again. 

On Wednesday, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and several other lawmakers introduced the Protecting America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act. 

The bipartisan legislation would prohibit exporting crude oil from the SPR to China. A similar piece of legislation was recently passed in the US House of Representatives by a large majority, 331-97. 

"The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a vital piece of our nation's infrastructure that bolsters our energy and national security. While the reserve has been a policy Band-Aid for rising gas prices and the global unrest caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the reserve is, above-all, meant to help the United States and our allies through difficult times, not to help China power its economy," Manchin, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in a statement. 

He continued: "This bill would ensure that we are not risking our energy security by selling our petroleum reserves to China, and the bipartisan support this legislation has received shows just how important it is for America to be energy secure and independent."