Michigan state Senator Joanne Emmons speaks at a panel discussion on sales tax simplification August 5, 2002, during the National Retail Federation’s 26th Annual Conference of State and National Retail Executives meeting in Napa., Calif.

National Retail Federation General Counsels Forum Chairman Dennis Broderick, general counsel at Federated Department Stores Inc., speaks with federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairwoman Cari Domenguez July 24, 2002, at NRF headquarters in Washington, D.C. At left is NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan. (Photo by J. Craig Shearman)

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairwoman Cari Dominguez speaks at a meeting of the National Retail Federation General Counsels Forum at NRF headquarters in Washington, D.C., July 24, 2002. (Photo by J. Craig Shearman)

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., speaks before the National Retail Federation Tax Committee July 17, 2002, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by J. Craig Shearman)

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., speaks before the National Retail Federation Tax Committee July 17, 2002, in Washington, D.C. Seated is Tax Committee Chairman Jack N. Reif, Assistant Treasurer of Target Corp. (Photo by J. Craig Shearman)

National Retail Federation Senior Vice President for Government Relations Steve Pfister, right, speaks with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., July 17, 2002, at a meeting of the NRF Tax Committee in Washington, D.C. (Photo by J. Craig Shearman)

National Retail Federation Senior Vice President for Government Relations Steve Pfister speaks with U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao at NRF's 67th Annual Washington Leadership Conference June 20, 2002, in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa., speaks with Macy's East Vice President for Government Affairs Ed Goldberg, right, June 20, 2002, at the National Retail Federation's 67th Annual Washington Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, left, speaks with National Retail Federation President and CEO Tracy Mullin at NRF's 67th Annual Washington Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., June 20, 2002.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao speaks at the National Retail Federation's 67th Annual Washington Leadership Conference June 20, 2002, in Washington, D.C.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., (center) meets with retailers during the National Retail Federation's 67th Annual Washington Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., June 20, 2002. From left to right are NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations Steve Pfister; South Dakota Retailers Association President-Elect Phil Lampert, manager of Custer State Park Resort Co. in Custer, S.D.; Daschle; SDRA President Kent Baker, manager of the Sears department store in Rapid City, S.D.; and SDRA Executive Director Jerry Wheeler.

Per Hughe-Jensen, owner of Bowhe and Pear gift shops in Alexandria, Va., listens to a question during testimony before the House Small Business Committee's Subcommittee on Rural Enterprises, Agriculture and Technology February 7, 2002, in Washington, D.C. Hughe-Jensen testified about small business access to technology on behalf of the National Retail Federation.