Testifying before the committee in April, Mr Clegg said the plans were not intended to give voters "an unlimited, unqualified, untrammelled right to trigger a by-election, whenever you happen to feel like it, because you don't like the cut of the jib of your local MP".
McCain and his swing-state town hall team were right in framing the consequences: If the trigger is pulled, sequestration will have immediate and negative impact on millions of Americans.