The US doesn't need a national ID. It needs a national PKI.
The US Postal Service is in a great position to be the one who executes it. They have access to delivery physical goods to the entire country. They have the staff and procedures to do identity verification for their current products that could be extended to a PKI offering.
If you look at the best National ID systems in Europe, effective it’s all leveraging PKI. It needs a name, of course (National ID) and a purpose, however the entire core of these systems rest on PKI
National ID won't sell, politically, in the US. Branding it as some kind of "cyber" nonsense might give it some legs. (Just until the opposition starts calling it "National ID". I don't think political buy-in will ever happen in a reasonable timeframe no matter how it's branded.) The opposition to REAL ID act is evidence enough.
The US Postal Service is in a great position to be the one who executes it. They have access to delivery physical goods to the entire country. They have the staff and procedures to do identity verification for their current products that could be extended to a PKI offering.
It'll never fly, politically.