With Republican large-scale effort to overhaul Dodd-Frank stalled, there are signsthat bipartisan efforts on both sides of Capitol Hill to makeincremental changes are gaining momentum.

The House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday beganmarking up 23 bills that includes smaller regulatorychanges—Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) estimated that 78% of thebills will have bipartisan support.

Committee ranking Democrat Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said thatwhile she was concerned by the volume of legislation the committeewas considering in one day, she was pleased that several of thebills had been produced following bipartisan negotiations.

On the Senate side, sources in the Washington credit unioncommunity said that Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID.) and thepanel's ranking Democrat, Sherrod Brown of Ohio may be close tounveiling bipartisan legislation to make changes to Dodd-Frank.

The House earlier this year passed Hensarling's Financial CHOICEAct without any Democratic support. Senators made it clear thatthey would not consider that bill.

In any event, it could not have passed the Senate since the billwould have required 60 votes in that body and the bill's changes tothe CFPB would not gain that support.

On Wednesday, the panel began marking up 23 bills—several ofwhich were endorsed by credit union trade groups.

For instance, the committee was considering legislation thatwould require federal financial regulators to consider the riskprofile financial institutions pose before enactingregulations.

Many Democrats are expected to oppose that bill, with Waterssaying that it would loosen regulations too much.

The committee also was scheduled to consider legislation thatwould increase the CFPB's supervisory threshold from $10 billion inassets to $50 billion in assets.

The House panel is attempting to pass “small but meaningful”legislation that the Senate might be willing to consider, said onesource in the Washington, D.C. credit union community.

Financial Services had said they would undertake an effort tomake legislation more palatable to the Senate.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo), chairman of the House FinancialInstitutions Subcommittee, told the NAFCU Congressional Caucus lastmonth that the House was likely to consider a “buffet of bills tochoose from.”

On the Senate side, Crapo and Brown have not tipped their handsabout what their legislation will include.

However, last week, four Democratic members of the BankingCommittees—Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of NorthDakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Jon Tester—wrote a letter tothe leaders of the panel pledging support for a bipartisaneffort.

“Please know that we support your efforts and strongly encourageyou to reach an agreement on a regulatory reform package that cancome before the committee for consideration in the coming weeks,”the senators wrote.

John McKechnie, a senior partner at Total Spectrum said there“have been rumors of secret, bi-partisan meetings among SenateBanking staffers that may result in a draft bill.”

Still, there are deep divisions among senators about what can beachieved. Many Republicans would like to see the powers of the CFPBgreatly curtailed, but Brown and other Democrats are strongsupporters of the agency.

McKechnie said he was not sure that a compromise may bereached.

“In concept, there are a lot of votes for reg relief targeted atcredit unions and smaller banks,” he said. But the specifics.There's the rub. I'm hopeful, but at the same time skeptical,that middle ground can be found on something this complex andcontroversial. “