The question of whether a senate committee backs Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, in his probe of TV ministers' uses of tax-free status and their lavish lifestyles has been answered.

Rumors that Grassley was acting without support of the Senate Finance Committee had dogged his inquiry last year into financial and business records of six ministries, including two in metro Atlanta.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, with Grassley, signed a letter sent Tuesday that sets a deadline of March 31 for the ministries to turn over the documents.

Grassley is the ranking Republican on the committee. He requested the documents in November, but three of the six ministers targeted, including the Rev. Creflo Dollar of College Park's World Changers Church International and the Rev. Eddie Long of Lithonia's New Missionary Baptist Church, refused.

Dean Zerbe, a lawyer who served the committee until going to work for tax service specialists the alliantgroup last month, said the letter is a clear signal that Baucus backs the effort and that the intransigent ministries should "pull their socks up" and cooperate.

The letter says Grassley and Baucus hope to avoid "resorting to compulsory process."

"That is committee speak for saying that we are going to subpoena," Zerbe said.

Baucus and Grassley together can subpoena testimony or documents without a committee vote.

"Senator Baucus is making it clear that he intends for them to comply," said a Baucus aide.

Three of the ministries are in stages of cooperating, according to information from Grassley's office.

The metro Atlanta pastors and the Rev. Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Texas say they believe the IRS, not the Finance Committee, is the legal forum for any investigation, and that Grassley is overstepping church and state bounds.

The investigation has split the Christian community, with some agreeing with Dollar and Long, and others saying the ministries should be transparent about the donations they receive.

Neither the ministers nor their attorneys could be reached Wednesday.

Grassley said during a recent visit to Atlanta that the committee has run into this kind of resistance only when it looked into Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist later convicted and imprisoned for influence peddling.

Grassley has led the committee to investigate other nonprofits, such as the American Red Cross and more than 100 college endowments. He and Baucus say in the letter they want to look into the effectiveness of tax-exempt policies that govern the ministries.

Reports of lifestyles of the ministers, including the purchase of private jets, exotic cars, expansive homes and expensive trinkets, attracted Grassley's attention.