The White House said Tuesday that it “strongly supports” a bill heading to a House vote later this week that would make D.C. the 51st state, saying that passing the bill into law would “make our Union stronger and more just.”

The Statement of Administration Policy — the position the president is taking on any bill making its way through Congress — goes beyond President Joe Biden’s statement of support for D.C. statehood last month, when press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden believes D.C. residents deserve “representation.”

“For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded. H.R. 51 rights this wrong by making Washington, D.C. a state and providing its residents with long overdue full representation in Congress, while maintaining a Federal District that will continue to serve as our Nation’s seat of government,” reads the policy statement.

“Establishing the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth as the 51st state will make our Union stronger and more just. Washington, D.C. has a robust economy, a rich culture, and a diverse population of Americans from all walks of life who are entitled to full and equal participation in our democracy,” it adds.

The statement comes only two days before the House is set to vote on H.R. 51, the bill that would shrink the size of the existing federal district and create a new state out of the remaining land. Democrats have coalesced around the idea in recent years, and last summer the House approved a D.C. statehood bill for the first time in history.

Republicans, for their part, have steadfastly opposed the bill, calling it unconstitutional and a power grab by Democrats looking to add two seats in the U.S. Senate. (The issue has also prompted competing letters from the nation’s attorneys general.) At a markup on the bill last week, some House Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to introduce amendments that would have further enhanced congressional control over D.C., allowed residents to vote in federal elections in Maryland and Virginia, and set strict time limits on D.C. picking up the costs of its judiciary and prison system from the federal government if it gains statehood.

In a statement, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton thanked Biden for his continued support for D.C. statehood.

“The residents of our nation’s capital deserve voting representation in Congress and full local self-government, and with Thursday’s House vote and expected passage, along with Democratic control of the Senate and White House, we have never been closer to statehood,” she said.

Still, being closer to statehood doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen during this session of Congress.

While the House is expected to pass the bill this week, it again faces uncertain odds in the Senate. Even though it has gained support from 44 Democrats in the chamber, the bill still faces the reality that there aren’t enough votes to overcome a likely filibuster from Republicans. While Biden has said he supports reforming the filibuster, he hasn’t definitively said he supports broader calls from some Democratic leaders and activists to do away with it altogether.