Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (left) and U.S. Rep. John Boozman talk to reporters at GOP headquarters in Little Rock following a fundraiser for Boozman’s Senate campaign. (John Lyon photo)

LITTLE ROCK — The Senate Republican leader says a seat awaits U.S. Rep. John Boozman on the committee headed by Sen. Blanche Lincoln if the congressman unseats the incumbent Democrat in Arkansas’ November U.S. Senate race.

Meeting the press with Boozman after attending a fundraiser today in Little Rock, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he will assure Boozman a seat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee if Boozman defeats Lincoln in November.

“John will be on the Agriculture Committee on day one when we make the committee assignments. I have the ability to put him on the Agriculture Committee, and I’m going to do that,” McConnell said.

Lincoln was named chairman of the committee last year, becoming the first Arkansan and the first woman to achieve the position. Asked today why he thought Arkansans should trade the chairman of the committee for a low-ranking member, Boozman said more is at stake.

“Since June, I think Sen. Lincoln has voted with President Obama, has voted with Sen. (Harry) Reid (the Democratic Senate leader), 95 percent of the time,” he said. “We see one bill after another coming out with no ability to pay for any of this stuff — spending, spending, spending. And then at some point we’re going to see talk of a lot higher taxes down the line.”

McConnell acknowledged that “it’s great to have a chairmanship,” but he said Arkansans should look at Lincoln’s voting record and ask themselves, “Do I want to send somebody to Washington who is going to basically cancel out my views most of the time?”

Katie Laning Niebaum, a spokeswoman for Lincoln’s campaign, said later that Arkansans should ask themselves whether they support Lincoln’s “yes” votes on providing disaster aid and extending unemployment benefits or Boozman’s “no” votes on those issues.

“We look forward to the campaign because a comparison of their records will show that it is Sen. Lincoln who has compiled an independent record fighting for Arkansans and Congressman Boozman who votes his party’s line, even when he supported President Bush’s request for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in 2008,” Niebaum said.

Lincoln also voted for the bailout.

Boozman’s campaign would not say how much money it raised at today’s fundraiser. The event was hosted by Curt Bradbury, chief operating officer and a director of Stephens Inc.

McConnell said he came to Arkansas because Republicans have high hopes for Boozman.

“My presence simply underscores that we think we have a great opportunity to pick up a seat here,” he said. “We have a fabulous candidate, most public polls indicate we have a lead, and this is one we hope and expect to win.”

Responding to a question about immigration, Boozman said he would work as a senator to secure the nation’s borders, hold employers accountable if they hire illegal immigrants and make English the official national language.

“That’s the tie that binds us together, and that’s why we have escaped so many problems that so many countries have had throughout the world,” he said.

McConnell was asked if he agreed with Boozman that English should be the official national language. McConnell is married to former labor secretary Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan.

“I think so,” he said. “My wife came here as an 8-year-old not speaking a word of English, entered the third grade not speaking a word of English, and ended up being a member of the Cabinet in the previous administration. Legal immigration has been good for America. People ought to earn citizenship consistent with the law, and if you want to fit in in our country, you ought to speak English.”

Referring to a federal lawsuit filed today by the Justice Department over an Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants, McConnell said the Obama administration should “work on securing the border and not suing the people of Arizona who frankly, if you read the law, have responded, some would argue, quite appropriately to the failure of the federal government to carry out its responsibility and secure the border.”