Dennis Hastert's press secretary, John P. Feehery, said "there was some miscommunication" on Thursday at the Speaker's news conference.

"I support across-the-board tax relief because I believe it is one of the fairest ways to cut taxes," Mr. Hastert said. "I also believe that across-the-board tax relief may help the economy avoid a recession."

"Because we had such success in passing bipartisan measures to end the marriage penalty and the death tax in this session of Congress, I believe that these two bills could quickly be enacted in the law at the beginning of next year," Mr. Hastert added. "That is why I advocate that we start with these two bills in the 107th Congress."

President-elect Bush reiterated on Friday his hope that the $1.3 trillion tax package would become law and expressed optimism that that would occur.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to the speaker yet," Mr. Bush said at a news conference on Friday. "But what I found to be positive is the speaker was recognizing that we need some tax relief. And I have made it clear to the speaker once before that, you know, I campaigned on a package that I thought was fair and fiscally sound and responsible, and I strongly believe that."