Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama is privately working with Senate Democrats to find a way forward for his free trade initiative.

After Democrats banded together to rebuke their own party's President on a key trade bill Tuesday afternoon, Obama huddled with some of those senators -- including several who have publicly expressed support for the bill, called trade promotion authority -- to "discuss a path forward for this legislation," an administration official said.

Obama is scrambling to save his biggest legislative priority in his remaining years in the White House. The bill, trade negotiators say, is necessary before the 11 other countries participating in the talks will agree to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"The President reiterated his view, which he has shared in numerous similar conversations with members over the past several weeks, that passing TPA is an important step toward finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- the most progressive trade agreement in our history, which levels the playing field for American workers and puts in place new, high-standards environmental, labor, and human rights protections," the administration official said.

It became clear that Obama would suffer a major setback Tuesday afternoon when roughly 14 pro-trade Democrats emerged from a meeting with other Senate Democrats saying they wouldn't vote to take up the trade bill -- which then failed on a 52-45 vote.