Today the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law came out with its annual poverty scorecard and the Prairie State’s congressional delegation inched up the charts, ranking 19th in the nation for supporting policies that reduce poverty (in 2007, our delegation earned the 26th spot). The state’s GOP members, not surprisingly, were of little help.

All but two members of Illinois’ Republican delegation (former Rep. Ray LaHood and Rep. Tim Johnson) fell short of the honor roll after casting “no” votes on many of 17 bills of anti-poverty legislation tracked by the Shriver Center -- from the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act and Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay and Paycheck Fairness acts to the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act.

Rep. Peter Roskam fared the worst, becoming one of only 53 House members nationwide to receive an F for his votes. Reps. Donald Manzullo and John Shimkus followed close behind, earning D’s.

The following grades were pulled from Illinois’ scorecard. First come the Republicans:

Peter Roskam (IL-6): F
Mark Kirk (IL-10): C
Jerry Weller (IL-11): C
Judy Biggert (IL-13): C
Tim Johnson (IL-15): B
Donald Manzullo (IL-16): D
Ray LaHood (IL-18): B
John Shimkus (IL-19): D

Not surprisingly, Democrats came out stronger in 2008, with eight out of 10 members earning a perfect score for their voting record:

Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-2): A+
Dan Lipinski (IL-3): A+
Luis Gutierrez (IL-4): A+
Rahm Emanuel (IL-l5): A+
Danny Davis (IL-7): A+
Melissa Bean (IL-8): A
Jan Schakowsky (IL-9): A+
Jerry Costello (IL-12): A+
Bill Foster (IL-14): A
Phil Hare (IL-17): A+

Sen. Dick Durbin also received an A+ for his record on the nine pieces of anti-poverty legislation put before the Senate. Former Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-1st) missed too many votes to receive a score.

One encouraging sign is that the number of anti-poverty bills signed into law doubled (six in all) in 2008 over the prior year. And Sargent Shriver attorney Dan Lesser says Congress is off to an even stronger start in 2009, already passing the stimulus package and SCHIP expansion. In 2009, he expects to see far more progressive policies adopted, especially if constituents give their lawmakers an earful about it.