Sen. Ben Cardin said Friday that the Senate will remain in session and could “quickly” hold a hearing if there was a new health care proposal to debate.

“The Senate is in session. We could have a hearing next week. We could put hearings together quickly,” Mr. Cardin, Maryland Democrat, said on CNN.

Mr. Cardin added that if a new proposal were put forward, he would want more time to debate and review it.

“We also believe when you come up with proposals, you should let it be aired. You should let people have an opportunity to understand it. Recognize that the last bill we voted on was shown to us two hours before we voted on it,” he said. “So let’s have a more transparent process. There are proposals out there.”

Mr. Cardin said that moving forward, he sees a few options to stabilize the insurance marketplace immediately, including: enforcing the mandates, creating a public option and making sure insurance companies know they’ll receive the payments from the federal government so they can lower deductibles.

The Republican-led effort to repeal and replace Obamacare Thursday night with a “skinny” repeal failed due to a critical vote from Sen. John McCain of Arizona who voted against the replacement plan.

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