During the early years of the Reagan administration, a civil war raged in Nicaragua, pitting the revolutionary Sandinista government against Contra rebel groups. After the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carried out a series of acts of sabotage without Congressional intelligence committees being made aware beforehand, the Boland Amendment was passed by Congress, cutting off appropriated funding for the Contras. Prior to its passage, an earlier amendment proposed by Tom Harkin that would have disallowed all funding for Contra efforts had failed to pass.