Was that a direct quote? I'm Canadian, which means that I have no impact on this legislation whatsoever. I can't email my congress(wo)man, threaten to vote for the other guy, throw money behind a better candidate, etc. All I can do is sit back and hope that somehow you yanks'll take care of it, so therefore I try not to pay too close attention to this since it depresses the hell out of me. As such, I wasn't watching the proceedings today and don't know if that's a direct quote or not.
If it is, then I find that comment extremely disturbing. The reason being that Congress, being made up mostly of old people largely out of touch with technology (senate.gov lists the average age of members to be 56.7 years in the House and 62.2 years in the Senate[1]), they should be looking to the younger generation in general, and experts in technology specifically, to help them make informed decisions. Calling these people "nerds" seems incredibly derisive and shows a general lack of respect for the very people that can best help them.
Just to let you know, that is a quotation, but it wasn't meant in the derisive manner (as you decided to interpret it). On the contrary, the reasonable members of the House understand they need more technical people to weigh-in and are pushing for another hearing with such people present.
They used the word "nerd" frequently, but it wasn't really meant derisively, and a few people self-identified as nerds. (The tech-savviest man in the room used to run an ISP, I believe he was one such "nerd".)
Now that's a disruptive thought. :-(