Between 2000 and 2010, the company spent more than $220 million on lobbying and nearly $15 million on campaign contributions, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. While GE is not alone among multinationals in incurring this significant political spending, the scale of its spending suggests a significant ability to influence politics. Gerth and Sloan note an example that highlights this influence. Section 954(h) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) allows qualified banking and financial income from eligible entities to be deferred indefinitely until such income is repatriated. The provisions of section 954 of the code, known as the “active finance exemption,” were set to expire at the end of 2008, and their expiration would have left GE with a significant tax burden on financial profits held abroad by foreign subsidiaries. GE CEO Jeff Immelt personally met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen to push for the renewal of the provisions. Congress passed a bill renewing the exemption in less than a month