1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act . 2. Congressional findings and declaration of purposes (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) In 1984, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act ( Public Law 98–417 ) (referred to in this Act as the 1984 Act ), was enacted with the intent of facilitating the early entry of generic drugs while preserving incentives for innovation. (2) Prescription drugs make up approximately 10 percent of the national health care spending. (3) Initially, the 1984 Act was successful in facilitating generic competition to the benefit of consumers and health care payers, although 88 percent of all prescriptions dispensed in the United States are generic drugs, they account for only 28 percent of all expenditures. (4) Generic drugs cost substantially less than brand name drugs, with discounts off the brand price averaging 80 to 85 percent. (5) Federal dollars currently account for over 40 percent of the $325,000,000,000 spent on retail prescription drugs, and this share is expected to rise to 47 percent by 2025. (6) (A) In recent years, the intent of the 1984 Act has been subverted by certain settlement agreements in which brand name companies transfer value to their potential generic competitors to settle claims that the generic company is infringing the branded company’s patents. (B) These reverse payment settlement agreements— (i) allow a branded company to share its monopoly profits with the generic company as a way to protect the branded company’s monopoly