An article today from the Associated Press’s Connie Cass offers “a procrastinator’s guide to pushing the deadline” for the fiscal cliff. The piece explains options the president and Congress have for postponing the effects of a potential plunge from December through early-March.

Here are a few examples:

• December — Congress could vote to override automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that will take place at the start of next year absent a deal. 
• January — If a deal seems close, the Treasury Department could temporarily hold off on updating the withholding tables that determine how much tax comes out of paychecks.  
• February —  The Treasury Department can pull a few maneuvers to hold off a debt default until February or early March, even though the government is expected to hit its legal borrowing limit by the end of this month.