Two senior Republican senators are demanding the Obama administration provide Congress with records detailing the payment of Social Security benefits to suspected Nazi war criminals.

In letters to be publicly released Tuesday, Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah cite an Associated Press investigation published in October that revealed millions of dollars in benefits have been paid to dozens of former Nazis who were forced out of the United States.

Grassley and Hatch back legislation to strip former Nazis of their Social Security benefits. But they want to know more about the scope of the program and what role the Justice Department played.

The letters, dated December 1, were sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and Carolyn Colvin, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

(AP)