President Barack Obama is heading toward bruising fights on Capitol Hill on multiple fronts even before second-term Inauguration Day festivities fade.

Battle lines are forming in the Senate over his latest national-security team selections and in both chambers over his proposal to raise the government's borrowing limit. And an expected major White House push on gun-control is already encountering heavy, mostly GOP pushback — even though nothing specific is yet on the table.

On Monday, Obama brushed aside intensifying Republican objections to his choice of former Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. The president also was naming counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA. Both choices are controversial but Hagel has drawn the most fire.