Describe how a bill becomes law.

This is a complicated question that perhaps can best be
answered by viewing a flowchart of the process. See the link below for a good one. This
chart refers to how bills become laws at the federal level. The state governments have
their own processes, usually modeled after the federal process with various differences
(i.e. states have their own laws about how to initiate the bill
process).

Assuming your question applies to the federal
level, however, bills can originate in the House or the Senate. They can be proposed by
members of Congress, the Executive Branch, or many other ways. They go to committees,
the committees hold hearings, the legislators listen to the views of lobbyists who try
to convince them to vote in a certain way on the bills, there are endless debates, bills
are often send back to committee, there are votes which require certain majorities
depending on the nature of the bill. When all of the differences are worked out, in the
U.S. system of checks and balances, the bill goes to the president and he can either
sign it or veto it. If he vetoes it, it can still become a law because a majority vote
in either the Senate or House can override a presidential veto. This does not happen
very often.

There is also something called "the pocket
veto".  When Congress is adjourned, the president can reject a bill by simply refusing
to sign it (it is as if he "put the bill in his pocket and forgot about it", hence the
term ). Unlike a regular veto, Congress has neither the opportunity or constitutional
authority to override a pocket veto.

Also, a bill can
become a law without the president's signature. When Congress is not adjourned, and the
president fails to either sign or veto a bill sent to him by the end of the 10-day
period, it becomes law without his signature.

Enacting laws
is a complicated process, and there are differing views as to whether it should be
simplified or not. On the one hand, the process can get cumbersome, but on the other, we
can overregulate ourselves if we make it too easy to pass bills.
Many believe we have already overregulated ourselves in the United States, with way too
many laws and too many lawyers and judges required to interpret the
laws.

There have been a lot of efforts to refine the
process, but most of these efforts have not been successful at the federal level. State
laws is another issue, however.