After several years of struggle, the proponents of campaign-finance reform got Congress to enact in 2002 the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. A complex statute, it banned soft money contributions to national political parties, prohibited "issue ads" by private groups that mentioned candidates by name within sixty days of a national election, increased the limit on individual (“hard money") contributions to a candidate from $1,000 to $2,000 per national election, and more.