Illinoisans weathered a tough economic storm in 2009. Millions lost their homes to foreclosure, the unemployment rate climbed to historic levels, and health insurance benefits vanished as companies looked to cut costs. At the same time, anti-poverty advocates say Congress did more to blunt the impact of the recession in 2009 than in either of the two preceding years. In passing the stimulus bill, a historic children's health insurance expansion, and new wage fairness laws, millions in Illinois saw their family's finances stabilize last year and thousands more were dragged across the poverty line. But those folks shouldn't be sending any thank you notes to Illinois' Republicans for their efforts, based on the Sargent Shiver National Center on Poverty Law's latest scorecard.

In tallying up their votes on 17 anti-poverty measures taken up by Congress last year, the Shriver Center reports that virtually every member of Illinois’ Republican delegation (barring Reps. Mark Kirk and Tim Johnson) flunked the anti-poverty test.

The results aren't exactly surprising; the delegation's performance was dismal last year too. But this year's showing hit a new low as both Reps. Peter Roskam and Don Manzullo received an F. Meanwhile, Reps. John Shimkus, Aaron Schock, and Judy Biggert all earned Ds.

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

Peter Roskam (IL-6): F
Mark Kirk (IL-10): C
Judy Biggert (IL-13): D
Tim Johnson (IL-15): C
Donald Manzullo (IL-16): F
Aaron Schock (IL-18): D
John Shimkus (IL-19): F

Not surprisingly, Democrats came out stronger in 2009, with eight out of 12 House members earning a perfect score for their voting record:

Bobby Rush (IL-1): A+
Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-2): A+
Dan Lipinski (IL-3): A
Luis Gutierrez (IL-4): A+
Mike Quigley (IL-l5): A+
Danny Davis (IL-7): A+
Melissa Bean (IL-8): A
Jan Schakowsky (IL-9): A+
Debbie Halvorson (IL-11): A+
Jerry Costello (IL-12): A
Bill Foster (IL-14): A
Phil Hare (IL-17): A+

Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin's score fell to an A (from an A+ in 2008). Sen. Roland Burris earned a perfect score.

It's worth noting that the Illinois' GOP delegation didn't fare much better when the Drum Major Institute tallied up their votes on behalf of the middle class either.

Now if we could only see the scorecard measuring support for the top one percent ...