I can't see any relief ever given on these new regs. It's kind of hard to justify taking back years of data driven by scientific studies on fatigue etc. 330 million people in this country and all but about 6 of them don't fly on a regular basis. You can bet your butt the media would have a field day with any motion to change the language to favor the airlines. It took how long to implement it? I can only imagine how long it would take to amend it. By then, any airline that can't hack it will be out of business anyways.
One day all pilots will wake up from living like zombies under this veil of chronic fatigue and wonder where all those years went. Such a blur when you think about it. Being subject to the lifestyle of pre 117 had to have some long term effects. Just wait for the smoke to clear. It will be nice.