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He hasnt used it much. But President Obama says he suspects his veto pen will get far more use in the next two years with Republicans in control of Congress.

Still, the president said in an interview released Monday, he remains hopeful that the goodwill shown by Republican leaders in the recent lame-duck session will carry over into the new year optimism that doubles as a challenge.

You've got Republicans in a position where it's not enough for them simply to grind the wheels of Congress to a halt and then blame me, Obama told National Public Radio in the interview, conducted before he left for Christmas vacation in Hawaii. They are going to be in a position in which they have to show that they can responsibly govern, given that they have significant majorities in both chambers.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) have been plotting the course for a GOP-led Congress since before Novembers sweeping election wins for the party. Top Senate Republicans, in particular, have said how important it is for the partys eventual presidential nominee that Congress avoid self-inflicted wounds in 2015 as the primary process begins to unfold.

But both Republicans and the president know that any serious work to find compromise will invite criticism from their respective bases that they have given in to the other side. So in the weeks since the midterm election, both sides have played a delicate game by promising to do business with the opposite party while also vowing to hold firm when necessary.

Since the election, McConnell has vowed to show that the Senate can function and has ruled out new government shutdowns. But he also has promised a new effort to undercut the presidents healthcare law and to set a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline as the Senates first order of business in January.

In the NPR interview, Obama said there were areas of agreement that would be priorities come January, particularly finding ways to further the economic recovery. But he acknowledged that the Democrats midterm losses would put him in more direct confrontation with congressional Republicans.

I haven't used the veto pen very often since I've been in office, partly because legislation that I objected to was typically blocked in the Senate, which was in Democrats hands. Now I suspect there are going to be some times where I've got to pull that pen out. And I'm going to defend gains that we've made in healthcare; I'm going to defend gains that we've made on environment and clean air and clean water.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said the interview indicated that Obama was doubling down on his go-it-alone strategy, rather than listening to the American people, who want us to work together to get things done for the country.

The president said immigration was an area in which Republicans might change their approach as they face a new political reality heading into 2016 even though many in the GOP want to roll back recent executive actions he took to defer deportation for as many as 5 million more immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

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Obama hopes to work with Republicans, but he has his veto pen ready