After years of partisan impasses and legislative failures, Congress in a matter of hours yesterday passed or advanced three far-reaching bills that will allocate billions of dollars and set new policies for guns, roads and energy.

The measures sent to President Bush for his signature will grant $14.5 billion in tax breaks for energy-related matters and devote $286 billion to transportation programs, including 6,000 local projects, often called "pork barrel" spending. The Senate also passed a bill to protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from various lawsuits. The House is poised to pass it this fall.

"This bill will allow politicians to tell voters they're, quote, doing something about high energy prices," said Jerry Taylor, director of natural resource studies for the Cato Institute, which advocates free-market policies. "And the bill also allows politicians to hand out subsidies and preferences and tax dollars to well-organized interest groups—and that's what Congress likes to do best."

Bush had once threatened to veto the bill because it spends more than he had wanted, but yesterday he promised to sign it. "I congratulate the Congress for completing a highway bill that will improve highway safety, modernize our roads, reduce traffic congestion and create jobs," he said. "I am pleased that Congress met these objectives in a fiscally responsible way and without raising gas taxes."