WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior House Democrat is demanding an immediate investigation following an Associated Press report that suspected Nazi war criminals and former SS guards received millions of dollars in American Social Security benefits.

Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York requested the inquiry in letters sent Monday to the inspectors general at the Justice Department and Social Security Administration.

Maloney, a high-ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the payments a "gross misuse of taxpayer dollars."

AP reported Sunday that the benefits flowed through a legal loophole.

The Social Security Administration has refused AP's request to provide the total number of Nazi suspects who received benefits and the dollar amounts of those payments.

AP last week appealed the agency's denial of the information through the Freedom of Information Act.