Sentence:  But the task <WSD>is</WSD> beyond me because I hold it impossible to compress in a sentence or two the complicated and prodigious contributions Sam Rayburn has made as an individual , as a legislator , as a statesman and as a leader and conciliator , to the majestic progress of this Nation . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)