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Missouri Senator-elect Roy Blunt will be sworn-in Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Blunt will be sworn-in at 11:45 a.m. Eastern Time at the senate office builidng. Later, he will attend a ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol.

Blunt defeated former Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan to replace retiring Senator Kit Bond.

Bond has taken a job with St. Louis-based law firm Thompson Coburn to work out of the firm's Washington, D.C. office.

Blunt will join other republicans as they take control of the House.

Republicans are rushing straight into a political fight with President Barack Obama over health care and changes in Washington they say voters demanded in the midterm elections.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner says "it's new energy" after two years of Democratic dominance.

But the Republican upsurge also ushers in a divided government in the run-up to the 2012 elections.

With campaigns but a short time away, President Barack Obama and Republicans are set to square off over the size of government and the taxpayer dollars it spends.

Fresh from a Hawaii vacation, Obama says there will be enough time to campaign next year.

Still, both parties will start building their election-year cases in the congressional arena Wednesday.