President Barack Obama speaks about the about My Brother’s Keeper initiative at the Walker Jones Education Campus on July 21, 2014 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

During an appearance at a D.C. school, President Barack Obama openly supported the city’s statehood effort for the first time.

“I’m in D.C., so I’m for it,” Obama said at the Walker Jones education campus, according to a White House pool report. “I think I’ve long believed that D.C. pays — folks in D.C. pay taxes like everybody else. They contribute to the overall well-being of the country like everybody else. They should be represented like everybody else. And it’s not as if Washington, D.C. is not big enough compared to other states. There has been a long movement to get D.C. statehood and I’ve been for it for quite some time.”

After not using them for his first term, the White House switched the plates on Obama’s limousine to ones printed with D.C.’s “Taxation Without Representation” slogan last year. President Bill Clinton also used the plates, which were removed during President George W. Bush’s terms. The Obama administration previously voiced support for D.C.’s home rule and right to budget autonomy and full voting representation in Congress.

While the president’s open support for statehood is a positive step, he was also realistic about its chances with the current Congress: “The politics of it end up being difficult to get it through Congress, but I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

“All right, that was an easy one,” Obama said before moving on to the next question.

Update: Here’s a statement from DC Vote executive director Kimberly Perry: “President Obama’s support for D.C. statehood shows that he understands the injustice we face every day. The President has repeatedly proposed greater autonomy for D.C., only to see those proposals die because of partisan squabbling in Congress. We hope the administration will now request that its Senate allies hold a hearing on the D.C. statehood bill.”