This article is a mess. I did find another one that explains a little more here.

Ron Wyden has a really good record on privacy, free speech and digital rights, here's an unrelated post where the Electronic Frontier Foundation is interviewing him.

I do think with advancement in deep fake video and audio, verifying that you're talking to who you think you're talking to is going to become a big challenge. This bill seems to be addressing that - physically going somewhere to verify your Identity. And better for that to be an official government agency than a corporation who will charge who knows what and do who knows what with the data.

Another concept of verifying identity that I haven't heard much about lately is the web of trust. People can verify other people they know and trust, and then they can vouch for second or third connections who you have not verified yet. Trouble is it can seem convoluted to people who aren't familiar, and requires adoption from many people before it becomes useful. If the government just says "this is a thing we're doing" then much more likely to be adopted.