Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are drafting financial legislation as an alternative to a Republican bill they see as an effort to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act, a committee aide said Monday.

Ten Democrats, led by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, are signing onto the proposal ahead of a Thursday meeting of the committee, according to the Democratic aide. The lawmakers have signaled support for measures to help community banks and credit unions, while criticizing Republicans for pushing plans that would help banks with as much as $500 billion in assets and relax some mortgage regulations.

“We can provide small financial institutions the help they need without undermining important financial safeguards,” Brown said last week in a response to the legislation unveiled by Senator Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who leads the Banking Committee. Brown said the Republican draft bill “is a sprawling industry wish list of Dodd-Frank rollbacks.

”Shelby’s bill, which seeks also to toughen oversight of the Federal Reserve, was released as a discussion draft ahead of possible negotiations with Democrats. Republicans will need at least six other senators to back their bill to overcome procedural hurdles and pass it out of the Senate.  TBTF Draft Bill