But in the Senate, Cruikshank had to work quickly to avoid disaster. Sen. Russell B. Long (D-Louisiana) offered an amendment in the Senate Finance Committee that would have turned Medicare into a catastrophic health insurance plan, rather than a general insurance program. Long misused a proxy vote Efforts were made to find a compromise between the Long amendment and the original bill, but backers of the original bill felt they had already compromised too much. Working with Sen. Clinton P. Anderson (D-New Mexico), Cruikshank mustered a majority in the Finance Committee in favor of the original bill. The deciding vote came from Sen. Harry F. Byrd (D-Virginia, who had openly voted against Medicare in the past. Cruikshank made the critical decision to ask Anderson to go ahead with the vote after receiving assurances that Byrd would vote for the bill in committee but would, on principle, vote against the bill on the Senate floor.