Two top Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee are asking the committee to reschedule a hearing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions so he can testify there.

Sessions was set to testify Tuesday, but "abruptly and unexpectedly" canceled to instead testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. In a letter dated Monday, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., wrote to the committee and subcommittee chairmen asking for a new date to hear the embattled attorney general.

"This raises the question of whether the Attorney General is attempting to avoid oversight of this committee, and it certainly does not obviate his responsibility to answer questions of this committee. We must not enable the Attorney General to avoid public scrutiny by our committee out of concern that such testimony would be embarrassing. That is exactly why our committee's oversight function and traditions are so important," they wrote to Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

Instead of Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will appear before the House and Senate spending panels on Tuesday.

Over the weekend, Sessions told members that testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee "is the most appropriate forum" to address questions about his 2016 meetings with Russian officials.