No, Warren Buffett isn’t asking you to forward an email about the “Congressional Reform Act of 2019”

A Facebook post that has been shared nearly 100,000 times claims that Warren Buffett is urging people to forward an email about the "Congressional Reform Act of 2019." 

"Buffet (sic) is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list," the Sept. 23 post says. "In turn ask each of those  people to do likewise." 

But this is a longtime hoax, and this post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

In fact, we debunked something similar in October. A Sept. 25 post with more than 75,000 shares claimed President Donald Trump was sending chain mail and "asking everyone to forward" an email about "The TRUMP Rules: Congressional Reform Act of 2017."

The rules were virtually identical to those that appear in the Buffett post. For example, rule No. 1

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stated on October 27, 2024 in an Instagram post

Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz “says that if Democrats win they’ll make (U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) speaker of the house.”

Declared "no tenure/no pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office." 

Other versions of this post have been around since at least 2009, when Buffett was also featured. In 2011, the phony legislation was called the "Congressional Reform Act of 2011" and while neither Trump nor Buffett were named, FactCheck.org checked its claims.  

In 2012, U.S. News and World Report ran a story called "Warren Buffett and the mythical ‘Congressional Reform Act.’" 

"Incendiary emails like the bogus Buffett petition aren’t an argument for cleaning up Congress," the publication said. "They’re a better argument for civics tests for voters."

We rate this Facebook post Pants on Fire!