State lawmakers held off on confirming Gov. Wes Moore’s nominee for transportation secretary Monday evening over funding for Baltimore’s public transit system.

Moore named Kathryn “Katie” Thomson, a former federal transportation official, to the role in December, pending permanent approval by the state Senate.

Senate President Bill Ferguson asked for a hold on her nomination after he and Senate colleagues leveled a handful of pointed questions about the Department of Transportation’s budget choices.

Ferguson said Baltimore-area lawmakers had sent Thomson a letter calling for “a more robust investment and a real plan and vision for the Baltimore region” after the state’s record transportation budget showed little additional funding for projects such as the east-west Red Line and expansion of the city’s bus network.

“[I] was expecting a more robust response than was provided today, which was not a response at all,” Ferguson said.

Be it a power play or election year politicking, the nomination hold comes as the state stares down a budget shortfall and the transportation department struggles to placate a city that hasn’t expanded its disjointed transit network in more than three decades.

David Broughton, a state transportation department spokesperson, said Thomson plans to meet with members of the Baltimore City delegation soon to address their concerns.

Democratic Sen. Cory McCray said Baltimore’s public transit network, the majority of which is run by the Maryland Transit Administration, has felt like “an afterthought, a second child.” He asked Thomson to comment on the BMORE Bus plan, a vision released by the MTA last year that details how to get the bus system running more frequently and reliably.

Thomson said she was encouraged by a “down payment” in the current budget toward the roughly $1.1 billion plan, but that it was “not as much as we would like.”

Moore’s six-year transportation spending plan includes about $14.5 million to acquire real estate for another bus depot, a facility seen as the lynchpin to the overall plan.

Ferguson called that amount “minuscule.”

Some lawmakers hoped to see additional money for the facility’s design, as those plans would speed up BMORE Bus’ implementation.

Even if the state finds the money to fully fund the bus initiative, the plan couldn’t be fully implemented until at least eight years from now.

Advocates have pushed for fast-tracked funding, holding rallies in Annapolis and packing Baltimore City Council hearings. During the MTA’s budget hearings Friday and Monday, transportation analysts, climate advocates and a Baltimore eighth grader stressed the importance of accelerating the bus plan.

A bill in the House of Delegates would require the MTA to finish building the new bus depot within the next six years.

Lawmakers and advocates have also expressed frustration over the Red Line, a proposed east-west Baltimore light rail project that Moore revived in 2023 and remains mired in uncertainty. The state was supposed to release its preferred alignment for the project more than a year ago, but has yet to.

Moore’s spending plan includes more than $150 million for planning, studies and preliminary engineering for the Red Line, but no money for construction.

Balancing the six-year plan is a gargantuan task. At more than $21 billion, it’s the largest in the state’s history.

Some Republicans are also questioning the state’s transportation priorities, but from a different perspective.

Sen. Justin Ready, a Republican who represents parts of Carroll and Frederick counties, expressed frustration Monday that funding for state transportation needs always “seems to fall on the drivers,” citing recent fee increases.

Residents in other parts of the state who rely on cars feel “forgotten,” he said.