Bernie Sanders had set his sights on rallying the party behind him in his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. | Getty Sanders claims victory on $15 minimum wage in party platform, but is defeated on TPP

Sen. Bernie Sanders may have claimed victory in the fight for $15, but he lost out on trade.

The Democrats’ platform committee late Friday approved an amendment that formalizes the party’s commitment to a $15 minimum wage, with indexing for inflation, a Sanders campaign pledge. But Saturday, the Vermont senator was defeated on the Trans-Pacific Partnership: The draft platform will not include the strong language opposing the trade deal, which Sanders made a key plank of his run for the Democratic nomination.


The fight over the language surrounding the trade deal -- Sanders had ranked that amendment at the top of his list of a dozen changes he wanted -- produced the most contentious debate between Sanders delegates and Clinton delegates at the two-day Orlando meeting.

When Clinton-aligned DNC member Lee Saunders introduced an amendment demanding that trade negotiations be more transparent and calling to "significantly strengthen enforcement of existing trade rules," it set off a heated debate between some of the most high-profile Sanders delegates and Clinton supporters over whether that language went far enough in opposing the TPP.

Sanders delegates Nina Turner, Ben Jealous, and Cornel West argued that Saunders' amendment did not go far enough to to specifically oppose the TPP.

"The majority of Democrats like the majority of Americans are against the TPP. Hillary is against the TPP. Bernie is against the TPP," Jealous shouted at one point. "Let's not be bureaucrats. Let’s be leaders. All we have to do brothers and sisters is come together and you know coming together requires efforts from both sides."

Saunders' amendment passed anyway, sparing the White House, which helped negotiate the trade deal, from a humbling defeat from within its own party. Both Sanders and Clinton oppose the pact.

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which has endorsed Clinton, hailed the language passed as a "milestone" while acknowledging the problems with the TPP.

"The Democratic Party’s adoption of strong, pro-worker trade positions is historic, but didn’t happen by itself. The voices of working people put the brakes on TPP and forced a real, vibrant debate about ending corporate trade. Secretary Clinton has made clear that she opposes the TPP before or after the election and believes in a whole new approach to trade that shares our values," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement on Saturday. "The Democratic Party has taken a strong position, but the threat of unfair agreements, including TPP remains. We will continue to point out TPP’s fundamental flaws and mobilize to defeat it, and any trade deals that don't work for working people."

The language of the minimum wage position reads: “We should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over time and index it, give all Americans the ability to join a union regardless of where they work, and create new ways for workers to have power in the economy so every worker can earn at least $15 an hour.”

Sanders throughout his campaign pushed for an increase in the minimum wage, and has vowed to have an impact on the national party’s platform. A statement from campaign spokesman Michael Briggs released Saturday said: "Sen. Bernie Sanders scored a big victory here Friday when the Democratic platform committee approved an amendment committing to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and index it to inflation."

Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, who has actively campaigned for Sanders, said “raising the federal minimum wage see a moral standard in this country.”

“Raising the federal minimum wage is the beginning of creating an America as good as its promise,” she said at the meeting of 187 members of the platform committee, according to Briggs' statement.

Sanders’ impact was also be felt in other ways this weekend.The Clinton campaign rolled out a set of progressive policy stances on healthcare Saturday, including a proposal to double the amount of primary care services funding at community health centers. Increasing funding for communities that depend on community health centers has been a key sticking point in Sanders’ healthcare proposals.

That document was hashed out in negotiations with Sanders' policy team, leading the Vermont senator to hail its release as a sign that he and the former secretary of state were coming closer together on a range of policy areas.

"The proposal brought forth today by Secretary Clinton working with our campaign is an important step forward in expanding healthcare in America and expanding health insurance and healthcare access for tens of millions of Americans," Sanders said in a conference call on Saturday morning. "I congratulate Secretary Clinton for this extremely important initiative, it will save lives, it will ease suffering, it will improve healthcare in America and it will cut healthcare costs."

His comments came ahead of his expected endorsement of Clinton next week, another sign that Sanders and Clinton were moving closer toward uniting in advance of the convention in Philadelphia. Earlier in the week, Clinton's campaign adjusted her proposals on college affordability effectively moving her closer to Sanders and his call for free tuition at public universities and colleges. That move by Clinton was also met with praise from Sanders.

"The Clinton campaign and I and our campaign are coming closer and closer together in trying to address the major issues facing this country which is what my campaign was all about," Sanders said in the conference call. "We look forward to working more with the Clinton campaign and we'll have more to say in the very near future."