WASHINGTON—Two influential members of Congress called Thursday for the Government Accountability Office to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into federal financial aid given to American International Group Inc.

“We believe that such a review would be an important complement to investigations conducted by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program,” wrote Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., who is the chairman of the oversight committee, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., in a letter to Gene L. Dodaro, the acting U.S. comptroller general. “Therefore, we request that the GAO undertake a full review of all aspects of federal assistance—whether through the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or any other public entity—provided to AIG from 2007 to the present,” they wrote.

“This review should include, at a minimum, an evaluation of: 1) the decision-making process at AIG and (the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) regarding the payments made under Maiden Lane III to AIG’s counterparties to credit default swap contracts on certain multisector collateralized debt obligations, specifically examining whether the decision to pay counterparties at par ‘left money on the table’; 2) who made the decision to pay the counterparties at par and on what authority; 3) the decision not to disclose the identities of the counterparties and other financial details in regulatory filings and Congressional testimony until March 15, 2009; 4) the decision not to let AIG file for bankruptcy protection; and 5) the implications of the AIG rescue for future federal assistance to private firms.”

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the federal government’s initial influx of cash to AIG in September 2008, is scheduled to testify before the oversight committee next week about the government’s dealings with AIG.

AIG declined to comment on the letter.