COLCHESTER — Rep. Peter Welch has joined a bipartisan group of House members to ask the federal government to temporarily suspend a mandate that ethanol be included in fuel.

Welch said the ethanol program is driving up feed prices for farmers at the same time a major drought in the Midwest is slashing the supply of corn. He said feed prices are up 40 percent.

Currently, 10 percent of all transportation fuels in the country must come from corn-based ethanol.

Welch, a Democrat, is in favor of a permanent end to the mandate, but for now, his goal is a suspension.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, in Vermont this week, said her agency is gathering information about the proposal.