As I wrote the other day, the politics of rising food prices are waking Washington up to the downside of the corn ethanol boom. There's some awfully compelling evidence today in the Wall Street Journal:

Rising food prices are prodding lawmakers in Washington to rethink support for corn ethanol.

Two dozen Republican senators on Friday -- including Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R., Ariz.) -- asked the Environmental Protection Agency to ease requirements mandated by Congress in 2007 to blend more ethanol and other renewable fuels into the gasoline supply.

The lawmakers said the mandates are contributing to a sharp increase in food prices. Sen. McCain has been a critic of ethanol subsidies.

"With the price of everyday meat, chicken, bread and eggs rapidly increasing, we are asking the EPA to use the flexibility that Congress gave them, because so many families cannot afford the increasing prices at the grocery store," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R., Texas). An EPA spokesman couldn't be reached to comment.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said the agency "will review waiver requests and respond according to the law."

Now If two dozen senate Democrats wake up, we'll have the debate we should have had before Congress started driving drunk on the stuff.