Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Obama has been a resident of the District of Columbia (practically, if not legally) since 2009.

He rides in a limousine with D.C. license plates.

But he's been relatively quiet on the controversial subject of D.C. statehood — until Monday.

"I'm in D.C. so I'm for it!" he said in at a town hall-style meeting to promote his My Brother's Keeper initiative.

"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 treated like everybody else," Obama said in response to a question.

"There has been a long movement to get D.C. statehood and I've been for it for quite some time. The politics of it end up being difficult to get it through Congress, but I think it's absolutely the right thing to do," Obama said.

Obama still holds legal residency in Illinois, where he was a senator before being elected president.

But in a symbolic move last year, Obama had D.C.'s "Taxation Without Representation" license plates put on the presidential limousine for his second inaugural — a move that delighted proponents of statehood for the federal district.

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