Bernie Sanders failed in his quest to include opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in a draft of the Democratic Party's policy positions Saturday, where several amendments against the deal were voted down by Hillary Clinton supporters.

During a combative meeting in a hotel ballroom, members of the Democratic National Convention's full Platform Committee voted down amendments to explicitly oppose the deal and to oppose a vote on it in Congress. Instead, they endorsed an amendment that included stronger language governing trade deals, including the TPP.

Sanders and Clinton have come out against the trade deal, but President Barack Obama supports it. Clinton supporters, including labor leaders, believed that toughening the trade language made enough of a statement without directly opposing the president. Sanders backers expressed their frustration with boos and angry shouts.

Sanders supporter Benjamin Jealous, a former president of the NAACP argued that language opposing the TPP would help Democrats win the presidential election in November. "I want us to stop making it harder for us to win and start making it easier for us to win," he said.

Since Clinton effectively clinched the presidential nomination, the Vermont senator has aggressively campaigned to include his progressive policies in the party platform. He has won a number of concessions, including a win Friday with an amendment calling for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 over time, indexed to inflation. The previous platform draft had not included explicit language on a $15 federal minimum wage.

The party guidelines also have language endorsing steps to break up large Wall Street banks and urging an end to the death penalty. But Sanders is looking for more before the meeting concludes. He wants the platform to support a carbon tax to address climate change and seek a freeze on hydraulic fracking.

The roughly 15,000-word platform is a nonbinding document that serves as a guidepost for the party. After the Orlando meeting, the document will be voted on at the convention in Philadelphia this month. The Orlando meeting is not the final stop for the Sanders' efforts. He could seek to revive some of these issues at the convention.

Sanders has so far avoided endorsing Clinton, but appears to be closing in on backing her campaign. He told reporters Saturday that the campaigns are "coming closer and closer together in trying to address the major issues facing this country."