It took me a moment to work this out too, but they meant that the police don't ask for your passwords when they arrest you for an unrelated charge; the DMV doesn't ask you for them when you get a drivers license (do US DMVs do that?) etc.
US DMVs do not require fingerprints, no. However, they do require images to be taken of you, that are entered into a database ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/state-phot... ). So when discussing 'biometrics' as a whole, government agencies routinely collect and share it.
Plus, let's not forget the data sharing arrangements that were highlighted by Greenwald; the US collects fingerprints from anyone entering the country ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Biometric_Identity_Ma... ), and I'm sure they're happy to share that information with other countries, who may be prevented legally from collecting that info from their own citizens. And vice versa. So traveled overseas? It's not unreasonable to assume your home country now has access to that piece of biometric data. Certainly, the country you traveled to does.
And of course, if you are arrested, your fingerprints are entered into a DB as well (though you can fight to have them removed if you are never found guilty of anything; good luck with that).
